BRUSSELS, BELGIUM.-This autumn, Belgium will move to the cultural rhythm of not one, but 27 countries! This year, the entire European Union is invited to Europalia. The origins and evolution of Europe and its culture can be characterized by, amongst others factors, the circulation and dialogue of people between villages, regions, countries and finally between continents. The development of trade routes, pilgrimage routes, migratory phenomena and a thirst for discovery, all contributed to encounters between people and the spread and influence of ideas, thinking, science and art.

This proliferation and traffic not only enriched the culture of each country but also developed a European cultural identity. During europalia.europa, the public can learn more about this historical cross fertilisation from which their culture stems. Nourished by Barbarian, Byzantine, Moorish or Italian influences, European culture continues to exist and mature today!

In exhibitions, concerts, films, theatre plays and numerous other events, the festival will present examples of this circulation and dialogue between the 27 European countries but also exchanges between Europe and other continents. Europalia wants to draw the public’s attention to the specificity and cohesion of European culture, how it developed and how it marks the present day and influences the future.

In a juxtaposition of the past, present and future, this European unity and diversity can be seen and heard throughout Belgium between 3 October 2007 and 3 February 2008.

Unity in diversity - Much more than a sum of 27 different national cultures, Europe also shares a common culture. From Madrid to Vilnius, passing through Athens, London, Sofia or Nicosia, European culture has created unity throughout the centuries, in encounters and exchanges between artists, their ideas and their artworks. Europalia.europa will attempt to show the public in a programme that includes all artistic disciplines, just what makes the specificity and cohesion of this European culture, how it developed and how it influences our lives today and in the future.

Past - The festival’s central event is the exhibition “The Grand Atelier. Pathways of Art in Europe (5th – 18th century)” taking place at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels from 5 October 2007 to 20 January 2008. This exhibition follows in the footsteps of travelling artists, artworks and patrons, giving an entirely new view of Europe’s cultural history. Many stunning and famous masterpieces are evidence of an intense artistic circulation between the 5th and 18th centuries, made possible due to the development of trade routes and the ambitions of www.europalia.eu 6 3 October 2007 > 3 February 2008 patrons, princes and art dealers. Europe radiated outwards in a giant atelier of artists, theologians and patrons who circulated and influenced each other. This intense traffic also opened the way to enriching influence from outside Europe including Barbarian, Byzantine, Muslim and even from the New World.

The exhibition “The Grand Atelier. Pathways of Art in Europe” will be constructed around 14 themes, each illustrating via artistic masterpieces from across Europe, key moments in the emergence of artistic dialogue and the development of European art.

The exhibition will pay homage to great names such as Vitruvius, Da Vinci, Dürer, Van Eyck, Rubens, Ribera or Poussin and also to the scores of lesser known gold and silversmiths, ivory sculptors, miniaturists and architects.