Press releases

Last weekend, a major ceremony was held to mark the 40th anniversary of the Aachen-Toledo town twinning. Among the guests in the Coronation Hall of Aachen City Hall were representatives of the city council, universities and consulates as well as numerous Aachen citizens. A delegation from Toledo was also present: David García Alonso, Chairman of the Asociación Interciudades Alfonso X el Sabio, traveled to the event together with Toledo's Lord Mayor Carlos Velázquez Romo. José Sánchez was on site as Chairman of the Association for the Promotion of the Aachen - Toledo Town Twinning.

In her speech, Lord Mayor Sibylle Keupen emphasized that the friendship between the two cities is "precious and valuable" and recalled the roots of the town twinning, which go back to the coronation of Charles V in Aachen City Hall. Keupen emphasized: "Town twinning is alive when the citizens exchange ideas with each other. We can only overcome the challenges of the future together. Let's go into the future side by side, with each other and for each other, for a Europe that is open to the world. A Capital of Culture Toledo, which we are happy to support, can be a good project on this path."

Carlos Velázquez Romo thanked the two twinning associations for their impressive commitment over the past decades and said: "In these four decades, the partnership has enabled cultural, social and especially educational projects that have enriched the educational curriculum of many students and, in particular, strengthened the bonds between families, cities and people."

The award of the International Charlemagne Prize to the Spanish King Juan Carlos I in 1982 laid the foundation stone for the town twinning between Aachen and Toledo. In 1984, Joaquín Sánchez Garrido, former Lord Mayor of Toledo, expressed his wish to the then Lord Mayor Kurt Malangré to establish a town twinning. The official twinning agreement was signed on October 12, 1984, first in Toledo and then on January 26, 1985, in Aachen.