Hey, Louisville. 👋 Or should we say “Guten Tag”?
Here’s a pop quiz for you. What do Louisville + Mainz, Germany have in common? The two might seem completely unrelated, but they are actually sister cities.
According to Sister Cities International, “A sister city is a broad-based, long-term partnership between two communities in two countries, officially recognized after the highest elected/appointed officials sign off to become sister cities.” The idea is to cultivate international relationships, explore other cultures, and stimulate economic development.
Mainz became one of our sister cities officially in 1994 — though the relationship began in 1976 as a student exchange program — and the two locations have a lot in common. We have similar populations, are both tourist cities, and have great opportunities for exchange programs.
Tell us more. Mainz is the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where the Rhine + Main Rivers meet. The 2,000-year-old city has been a busy trading center since the Roman Empire, where it was the political capital of Upper Germania. Today, it sits at the center of the present-day Rhine wine trades.
Mainz is also the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the revolutionary movable-type printing press which contributed to the spread of literacy + education in Europe.
Mainz becoming our sister city was a big deal for Louisville culturally + economically, but we actually have more than one sister city – Montpellier, France; Tamale, Ghana; Quito, Ecuador; La Plata, Argentina; Jiujiang, China; Perm, Russia; Leeds, England; and Adapazari, Turkey are Louisville’s other current sister cities.
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