Giving a speech at the start of the ceremony, Dubrovnik Mayor Dubravka Suica said that "Dubrovnik is a city which has been able to strengthen its own source of energy also by energy from other sources, without losing its specific characteristic that thanks to its richness has a prominent place in Croatian heritage and the Croatian cultural identity".
During her speech she also recalled the autumn of 1991 when young men whom she described the children of the city had overnight grown into soldiers to defend Dubrovnik and its being a part of Croatia,
Therefore Dubrovnik and Croatia today can search for and get a place they deserve in the political and cultural area of the united Europe, Suica said opening, together with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, this summer's festival.
Present at the ceremony were also Albanian and Bulgarian Presidents, Alfred Moisiu and Georgi Parvanov, Croatian Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks, Culture Minister Bozo Biskupic and his counterparts from Hungary, Slovenia and Macedonia as well as other senior Croatian officials and local Roman Catholic dignitaries and foreign diplomats accredited in Croatia.
The 56th festival will feature some 2,000 artists from about 20 countries who will perform more than 100 plays, concerts and choreographic programmes on about 20 stages.