Complete DNA sequences of many animal genomes combined with the information on new classes of regulatory elements within the regions conventionally viewed as intergenic led to a revision of the concept of the genome as a linear arrangement of genes with their promoters and distinct intergenic regions. Instead, there emerged a concept of the so-called transcriptional landscape with almost no boundaries between what was commonly considered to be genes. The concept of the core promoter as the main cis-acting transcriptional element also changed dramatically. Knowledge of the mechanisms sustaining the function of this central element of the cell transcription system underlies the understanding of metazoan transcription in general. The review attempts to summarize the data obtained for core promoters in the past decade and to trace the evolution of the core promoter concept. This evolution led finally to the understanding that core promoters play an active role in transcription regulation rather than just provide a passive scaffold for assembling preinitiation transcription complexes. © 2010 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.