Every year, partner City Darmstadt hosts the European Weekend. A weekend in which the diversity of the city is celebrated and where the population can come into contact with each other in various ways.
In addition, all 17 partner cities of Darmstadt are invited and Alkmaar was one of the 10 Sister Cities present this year from 24 to 26 May.
The weekend was officially opened by the new mayor of Darmstadt, Mr. Hanno Benz. On the Rosenhöhe, a beautiful park where all partner cities have their own garden, a new garden was unveiled for the new Israeli partner city Nahariya.
Mahildenhöhe
This was followed by a walk on the unique Mahildenhöhe, an early 20th century experimentation Centre for artistic innovations. It was here that the leading ideas of later classical modernism were introduced into architecture. The director of the Institut Mathildenhöhe, Mr. Philipp Goedrond, provided valuable additional information on the history of Art Nouveau.
in the evening there was a joint dinner, during which all delegation members could talk to each other.
Grenzgang
On Saturday, the Grenzgang took place, a walk of a small 10 kilometers along part of the old borders of the city, past farmlands and through forests. At various places along the route, partner cities could present their city with local snacks and drinks, often accompanied by music, in the afternoon the ‘Bürger*innenmarkt ‘took place on the Friedensplatz. Here are stalls with snacks and drinks from the many population groups that the city is rich, because: eating together fraternizes. There were also organizations that could present their activities such as the local Esperanto Association.
New contacts
The AUC delegation has spoken to many delegation members from the other partner cities and new contacts have been made. That way we can learn a lot from each other again.
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