From Arctic art to the Disgusting Food Museum: Europe’s top 10 culture destinations for 2024

03.01.2024 - 10:18 / theguardian.com

Germany is celebrating the 250th birthday of one of its best-loved painters, the Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). His work features mountains, ruins and stormy seas, often with human figures, such as Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog. There are exhibitions in Hamburg (until 1 April), Berlin (19 April to 4 August) and Dresden (24 August to 5 January 2025), where Friedrich lived for 40 years; he is buried in the city’s Trinitatis Cemetery. His birthplace, Greifswald, has a festival (31 August-1 September) and three exhibitions at the Pomeranian State Museum (from 28 April). Visitors can also follow in the artist’s footsteps – literally, as he preferred to travel on foot, sketchbook in hand – to locations in his paintings, such as Rügen Island or the Saxon Switzerland national park.
germany.travel

Move over, Venice: Malta is launching its first biennale this spring. The event has already caused a stir in the art world, attracting submissions from more than 2,500 artists from 75 countries. The final selection has yet to be made, but organisers have promised that “several artists of international fame” will be exhibiting. Under the theme White Sea Olive Groves, the artworks will investigate modern Maltese and Mediterranean identity. The contemporary art will be shown in ancient settings, many of them Unesco-listed (the whole of Valletta, the capital, is a world heritage site, with 320 historic monuments). Several venues are being turned into exhibition spaces for the first time, including the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta, the Armoury in the old city of Birgu and the megalithic temples of Ġgantija on Gozo.
11 March to end of May, maltabiennale.art

For the third year running, three cities are sharing the title of European capital of culture, among them is Tartu, the second-biggest city in Estonia and the oldest city in the Baltics. The first written records of the city date from 1030, and it has long been the cultural heart of the country, with the first university, newspapers and national theatre. Today, it is still full of concert venues, exhibition halls, theatres and museums, and students make up a quarter of the population. More than 1,000 events are planned for the year of culture, from the opening ceremony on 26 January to a closing celebration on 30 November. Summer is a great time to visit, when Vabaduse Avenue,one of the main streets along the river, is closed to cars (6 July to 11 August). Car-free Avenue will have a hammock maze, art workshops, children’s activities and a series of concerts from Estonian and international musicians.
tartu2024.ee

The Carlsberg district (pictured) of central Copenhagen has been in development ever since brewing stopped there in 2008, and is finally