Year-end party in culture capital Turku

Photos and captions by Tim Bird, December 2011
Text by Peter Marten

Photo: Tim BirdThe Bridge of Light designed by light artist Kari Kola lights up Theatre Bridge on the last weekend of Turku’s year as European Capital of Culture – a much-appreciated source of extra illumination on a windswept Saturday.

What a year it was! Turku marks the end of its year as European Capital of Culture 2011 with a range of festivities worthy of the occasion. Check out our slideshow.

Five thousand events, created by 15,000 people and attended by two million visitors – the numbers tell the story of how busy Turku has been. The city of 178,000 put on spectacle after spectacle all year long as European Capital of Culture 2011, and 70 percent of them were free. On the last weekend before the Christmas holidays, people turned out to catch events across the city and put the finishing touches on a great year.