Twinning: Luxembourg municipalities join forces with foreign towns

Consdorf-Nazaré: connecting the forest to the ocean

Each year between October and March, the world turns its attention to the small town of Nazaré on Portugal's Atlantic coast. This seaside resort of around 15,000 inhabitants, renowned for its giant waves, is a genuine surfers paradise. Since 2011, this natural phenomenon known as the Big Wave Challenge has captured the imagination of the people from the four corners of the globe. Waves surging up to 30 meters high rise before hundreds of curious visitors and thrill-seekers who flock to Nazaré each year to admire this extraordinary spectacle.    

Far from the hustle and bustle of Nazaré, approximately 2,000 km away, lies Luxembourg's Little Switzerland. In this region, nature seems less effervescent but no less spectacular. In the heart of this lush environment, surrounded by rock formations and endless forests, lies the village of Consdorf, a small market town with some 2,000 inhabitants. This quaint village tends to attract walkers and mountain bikers. On the surface, Consdorf and Nazaré have nothing in common, and yet they're actually perfect partners! Since 2017, these two towns have been tied by an “oath of twinning”. In fact, a large number of Portuguese living in Consdorf are originally from the city of waves or its immediate surroundings.    

The many twins of Niederanven

For the majority of municipalities, the aim of twinning is to foster closer ties of friendship and to make it easier to get to know each other through socio-cultural exchanges. In Niederanven, they take this matter seriously! The municipality is twinned with 27 European towns, a record for Luxembourg. The origins of this network date back to 1991, when the municipality signed a partnership agreement with twelve towns in twelve European Union countries. This agreement is referred to as the "Douzelage" (douze is the French word for twelve). The "Niederanven" family has grown in harmony with EU enlargement. Currently, the family circle includes 27 partner towns each representing an EU member country.

The aim of this union is to cultivate the European spirit and to establish, among other initiatives, educational, economic, touristic, sporting and cultural ties between the towns for the mutual benefit of their respective inhabitants. 

Schengen-Ischgl: beyond the ski slopes

The ski resort of Ischgl in Austria is well-known to almost all Luxembourgers. Did you know that the twinning between Schengen and Ischgl came about over a drink? In 2006, the two mayors of the two municipalities decided to join forces after meeting for a beer in the ski resort. The partnership celebrations took place in Schengen in June, and the agreement was officially signed in Ischgl in December of the same year.

In celebration of this twinning, every December, the municipality of Schengen offers its citizens a trip to Ischgl. An après-ski song has even been made to showcase this alliance:  Niki Ganahl - fans of “Niki's Stadl” will definitely know it - "Espace sans frontières".

Schengen, the birthplace of the synonymous European agreements, is a symbol of the free movement of people and goods. Hence, the village on the Moselle river encourages exchanges between its inhabitants to cultivate a sense of European brotherhood.  

Esch-sur-Alzette-João Monlevade: an iron bond

Mettwurscht or Churrasco?  The people of Esch-sur-Alzette and João Monlevade (Brazil) can't tell the difference! In fact, the city of Esch, commonly referred to as the Iron Metropolis, and the town of João Monlevade cemented their friendship by twinning in 2023. It's their common industrial heritage that brings them together. A steel key, forged in João Monlevade's steelworks, was donated to the town of Esch. It is a symbol of this iron bond.   

This twinning is historic, as it marks the first union between a Luxembourg town and a Brazilian city. The rapprochement took root a hundred years ago, when an ARBED plant named 'Companhia Siderúrgica Belgo Mineira' was inaugurated in the heart of the state of Minas Gerais. At the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of Esch residents, in particular engineers, emigrated with their families to Brazil to support the development of the Brazilian steel industry.

Préizerdaul and its long-distance support

To see the twin towns of the Préizerdaul municipality, its citizens would have to travel a long, long way. The twin town which is the furthest from Luxembourg is located in El Salvador. To get to San Augustin, you'll have to cross the Atlantic and travel around 9,200 kilometers as the crow flies. The second twin is the town of Péni in Burkina Faso. These two long-distance relationships were born in the early 2000s as part of local development projects in Central America and West Africa.    

In January 2001, San Agustín was hit by a devastating earthquake. The aid organisation 'Komm hëllef mat Préizerdaul' was set up in 2002 to help people affected by the disaster. In 2004, a twinning agreement was signed with the town of San Augustin in El Salvador. The twinning and its concrete financial support have made it possible to carry out the water pipeline project in the Salvadorian town. Education, healthcare and infrastructure projects have also been set up. In the wake of these aid efforts, a second long-distance partnership was established in 2006, with the municipality of Péni in Burkina Faso, which also benefits from development aid.