Clamart (France)

Lüneburg’s town twinning link with Clamart was established in 1975. The French city is located southwest of Paris in Hauts-de-Seine and has a resident population of 50,000. Clamart was mentioned in a document for the first time at the end of the 7th century, at that time by reference to “Claumar” or “Clanmar”. The name of “Clamart” in its present form was first recorded in the 11th century.
Clamart has served as a filming location for a number of motion pictures, probably the most famous of which was “The Fabulous World of Amélie”.

Ivrea (Italy)

Ivrea is a town in the province of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy with a resident population of 24,196 (as at the end of 2010). In 1988, the senior mayors of Ivrea and Lüneburg signed the Deed of Twinning.
Ivrea is located in the Canavese region in the centre of a vast moraine amphitheatre. It is surrounded by the outline of the “Serra di Ivrea”, the highest wall of hills in Europe.
Ivrea is well-known for its carnival, in which the greatest attraction is the traditional “battle of the oranges” (battaglia delle arance).

Kulmbach (Upper Frankonia in Bavaria)

The picturesque town of Kulmbach with a population of 27,000 inhabitants (as at the beginning of 2011) is the smallest twin towns affiliated with Lüneburg. The friendship between the cities goes back to 1967.

Apart from its impressive natural environment, it is the Old Town of Kulmbach and the adjacent villages with a wide variety of historic sites and squares that make Kulmbach very attractive to visitors. The landmark of Kulmbach, the Plassenburg Castle, is perched on a hill overlooking the Old Town, making it an ideal venue for all kinds of events ranging from exhibitions through open-air concerts to historic markets.

Kulmbach has also become known as the secret beer capital.

Köthen (south-east of Saxony-Anhalt)

Köthen is located near three important cities of Saxony-Anhalt: Dessau, only 20 kilometres away; Halle, 30 kilometres away; and Magdeburg, 60 kilometres away. The city has a population of 30,000 (as at the end of 2010). Highlights include Köthen Castle with a memorial of Johann Sebastian Bach and the Princess’s House. Köthen has a wide variety of other historic sites to offer. Like Lüneburg, it is the location of a university of applied sciences.

Naruto (Japan)

Naruto has been twinned with Lüneburg since 1974. The Japanese city, having a resident population of 61,500 (as at the beginning of 2011), is known for its swirling natural spectacle:  dynamic whirlpools stir up the Naruto Strait as a result of special tidal currents.
The German House in Naruto serves as both a museum and a meeting place that provides an insight into the “German” history of Naruto. During and after the First World War, there was a prison camp for German soldiers near Naruto City. They became friends with the Japanese and left many cultural impressions on this area.
One of the Lüneburg “Salzsauen“ (Salt Pig) from the Salt Pig Parade held in 2000 found a new home in the German House in Naruto. In May 2007, the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg gave this colourful piece of art as a present to its twin city in Japan. A bilingual plaque informs both Japanese and German visitors about the origin of the “Salzsau”.

Scunthorpe (Great Britain)

The twinning link between Scunthorpe and Lüneburg was established as early as in 1960. Scunthorpe, a relatively young city with an estimated resident population of 76,000, is located within North Lincolnshire in the Northeast of England; it is the administrative centre of the North Lincolnshire unitary authority. A predominantly industrial town, Scunthorpe is set in an area with views of the River Trent, surrounded by beautiful villages with fertile agricultural land. Scunthorpe is of great interest for historians. There is a great number of settlements from the Roman and Saxon period in the vicinity.

Tartu (Estonia)

The Lüneburg/Tartu twinning partnership was formed in 1993. Back in the 1990s, the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg organised 17 aid supplies transports to the Baltic city. Since that time Tartu has become a thriving city that is oriented towards Western European standards.

Tartut (Dorpat) is the second largest city in Estonia with a resident population of approximately 100,000 (as at the beginning of 2011), occupying an area of 38.8 square kilometres. The city lies 185 kilometres south of Tallin and is also the centre of Southern Estonia. The old hanseatic city is the educational centre of Estonia.

Tartu is marked by the Emajõgi River, which connects the two largest lakes of Estonia and crosses Tartu over a distance of ten kilometres.

Viborg (Denmark)

Viborg is located in the middle of Jutland in the northern part of the Danish peninsula in the north-west of Århus. It has been twinned with Lüneburg since 1992. Covering an area of 1,474.05 square kilometres, Viborg municipality is the second largest Danish municipality. This is due to the merger of the municipalities of Bjerringbro, Fjends, Karup, Møldrup, Tjele and the old city of Viborg as well as of the Hvam school district on 1 January 2007 to create the new municipality of Aalestrup with a resident population of 91,500 inhabitants (as at the beginning of 2007).
The city is known for its cathedral built in the Romanesque style, with a crypt dating back to the twelfth century. The old town hall accommodates the Skovgaard museum. In the Middle Ages, Viborg served as a gathering point for Landstings, which is a kind of regional parliament – the capital of Jutland, if you wish. As one of the few cities in Denmark without a port, Viborg was (and is) a centre of spirituality and administration.