From festivals to theaters, several European countries have begun to lift COVID restrictions and allow cultural events to take place with an audience again.
Liverpool's recent trial rave made international headlinesImage: Jason Cairnduff/REUTERS
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Where culture is reawakening in Europe
COVID vaccination is allowing a growing number of European countries to reopen the doors of their cultural institutions. Germany is still mostly holding back, but Bavaria is going its own way.
Pictures like this one from May 2020 will soon be reality again: Starting on May 10, counties and independent cities in Bavaria with a stable 7-day incidence below 100 new daily COVID infections per 100,000 inhabitants can open outdoor restaurants until 10 pm. Theaters, concert halls, opera houses, cinemas and sports facilities will also be allowed to reopen.
Image: Reuters/A. Gebert
Culture with face masks in Rome
Italy, too, is gradually relaxing its pandemic rules. Where infection numbers are moderate, restaurants and bars are allowed to serve people at tables outside into the evening hours. Museums and cinemas have also reopened in parts of the country with lower infection rates. In Vatican City, the Vatican Museums have reopened to visitors wearing mandatory face masks.
Museums in Poland reopened on May 4. From mid-May, outdoor film screenings and theater performances will start; two weeks later, the authorities hope to allow all theaters to truly open their doors again, at half their capacity and with mandatory face masks. Some Polish film festivals plan to go ahead with a limited audience, including the one in Krakow, starting on May 30 (photo above from 2017).
Image: Krakow Filmfestival/Tomasz Krcynski
Exhibition inauguration in Porto
Portugal is also opening up institutions previously closed because of the pandemic. Libraries reopened in March, whereas weekly markets, art galleries and museums, such as the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto (photo) opened in early April. Movie theaters, theaters and event centers welcomed visitors again shortly after.
Image: Teresa Nunes/Zuma/picture alliance
An early start in Zurich
In Switzerland, museums and libraries reopened in early March despite the fact that the number of infections was still rising at the time. On April 19, restaurants with outdoor seating, cinemas and theaters (above, the Zurich Schauspielhaus) opened their doors. Open-air concerts and soccer matches can also take place again — with limited audiences wearing mandatory face masks.
Image: Ennio Leanza/KEYSTONE/picture alliance
Feierlaune in Liverpool
Thanks to a lengthy lockdown and an advanced vaccination campaign, the coronavirus situation in the UK is relaxed. Pubs and restaurants in England and Wales have been allowed to reopen outside; in Scotland, people are even allowed to meet indoors until the evening. Liverpool hosted a test-run music festival with several thousand people at the beginning of May. The crowd was clearly delighted.
Image: Jason Cairnduff/REUTERS
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In recent weeks and months, there have been more or less successful attempts across Europe to bring cultural life back to normal.
While festivals, theaters, clubs, movie theaters, bars and restaurants in most German regions remain closed, individual regions like Bavaria are following the lead of Britain, Portugal and Italy — and gradually allowing cultural venues to open again after months of closure.
The above picture gallery gives you an idea of what restrictions are currently being relaxed in select European countries.
