The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for exactly one year, during which time the capitals organise a series of cultural events with a strong European influence and output.

The Capitals have already been announced for 2017, 2018 and 2019, and today it was announced that Galway would be one of the 2020 Capitals.

Joining Galway in the title is Rijeka in Croatia for the year, that countries third largest city.

The Croatian Ambassador was present at the event at the National Concert Hall in Dublin to share the title with Ireland in 2020.

Minister of Arts Heather Humphries gave an impassioned speech at the announcement, which was clearly fuelled by the recent events in Nice: "We will not stop celebrating what is great about living in Ireland, in France or in Europe."

The European Capital of Culture has been running since 1985, when the Athens was announced as the first city to host the event.

It was conceived in 1983 by Melina Mercouri, the then Greek Minister of Culture.

Mercouri believed that culture was not given the same attention as politics and economics and a project for promoting European cultures within the member states should be created.

Single cities were designed the Capitals until 2000, when nine cities were announced to celebrate the millennium, and since then, between one and three cities have been designated as Capitals.

Dublin previously held the title in 1991, and Cork was also declared a Capital in 2005.