Learn about Madison’s 10 sister cities (in 10 different countries!)

To learn from each other’s cultures, promote cross-cultural exchange, and support other communities, Madison has 10 different sister cities all over the globe.

Having 10 sisters could potentially be overwhelming and frustrating. But the City of Madison doesn’t feel that way. Madison has 10 different sister cities on five different continents. A Sister city relationship is essentially an agreement to promote the respective cities culturally. The modern understanding of sister city agreements gained popularity during World War II as a way to strengthen connections between allied countries.

There are plenty of ties that bring together Madison with its sister cities—from a passion for biking that it shares with Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, to being a capital, like Vilnius, Lithuania. Madison has also instituted sister city relationships with cities to raise awareness about the conditions in certain places, like Arcatao, El Salvador, when the Salvadoran Civil War was happening.

The City of Madison, along with several organizations associated with the sister cities program, frequently host events that celebrate the culture and traditions of Madison’s respective sister cities—and if just learning about the cities isn’t enough, the city and several different sister city organizations within Madison, also offer information for prospective travelers.

1. Arcatao, El Salvador

While many sister-city relationships are a source of pride and joy for cities, the reasoning behind Arcatao, El Salvador’s sister-city connection with Madison started off tragically. In 1986, Arcatao became Madison’s first sister city in the midst of the Salvadoran Civil War. The 12-year war lasted from 1979 until 1992, and during it, a massacre occurred in the River Sumpul near Arcatao. More than 600 men, women and children were killed attempting to flee the Salvadoran and Honduran militaries. 

Activists in Madison rallied together and gathered community support to name Arcatao a sister city to Madison in an effort to shed light on the atrocities committed by the Salvadoran government and how the Salvadoran government was being funded by the government of the United States. Becoming a sister city with Arcatao increased the public’s awareness of what was happening in El Salvador and how the United States was contributing to it. Today, the Madison Arcatao Sister City Project continues projects that bring the two cities together, including funding scholarships for Salvadoran students and selling Salvadoran-made crafts at local farmers markets.

2. Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Madison and Freiburg im Breisgau officially became sister cities in 1988, but the relationship between the two cities started decades before that. In 1964, the University of Wisconsin-Madison sent students to Freiburg im Breisgau to take classes at the University of Freiburg, the fifth-oldest university in Germany, having first been founded in 1457. 

The relationship between the cities continued for two decades, and in the 1980s, the Lord Mayor of Freiburg im Breisgau, Rolf Boehme, visited Madison, and Madison Mayor Joe Sensenbrenner ventured out to visit the German city. Nowadays, Freiburg im Breisgau, which is located in the southwestern foothills of the Black Forest, stays connected to Madison through the Madison-Freiburg Sister City Committee, which hosts regular events and encourages Madison residents to learn more about the German city, and visit it. Visitors to Freiburg can enjoy its network of canals, called Bächle, which flow through the city’s center.

3. Vilnius, Lithuania

It makes sense that the capital of Wisconsin paired up with another capital as a sister city—Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, which has been one of Madison’s sister cities since 1988. Vilnius, which was first founded in the 14th century, is the second-most-populous city in the Baltic region and is well-known for its Old Town. It’s one of the oldest neighborhoods in Northern Europe and has a wide range of architectural styles on display, including Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical. 

The Madison-Vilnius Sister Cities Inc. works to maintain a strong connection between Madison and the Lithuanian capital by hosting events, like the annual Lithuanian Independence Day Celebration and Lithuanian Christmas parties, and by providing information for Madison residents who want to travel to Lithuania. 

4. Camagüey, Cuba

The United States hasn’t always had a great relationship with Cuba, to say the least, but that’s not the case when it comes to Madison and its sister city Camagüey. The partnership, which led to the two cities officially becoming sister cities in 1994, initially began as humanitarian outreach, eventually developing into the Wisconsin Medical Project. The project provides medical and humanitarian aid to hospitals and clinics in areas of need and has helped to build operating rooms and laboratories within Camagüey. 

The Cuban city, which is the country’s third-largest in terms of population, is an inland city in the eastern part of the country that’s more than 500 years old. Throughout its lengthy history, Camagüey has been moved and redesigned. In the 17th century, the city was burned down by Sir Henry Morgan, the Welsh Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. After that, it was redesigned like a maze so attackers would have trouble finding their way through the city. The unique, maze-like layout of the city is one of the reasons that its old town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, as well as its stunning architecture. 

5. Mantua, Italy

When people think of Italy, they might think of pizza, pasta, and Roman ruins. Sure, that’s all there, but there’s so much more, including pastoral farmland. Mantua, a city in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, has plenty of farmland and bodies of water—giving it a resemblance to Madison. Those are just two of the reasons that the two cities joined together in a sister city agreement in 2001. The relationship is supported through the Madison-Mantova (the city’s name in Italian) Sister City Committee. 

Like Madison, Mantua is surrounded by water. While Madison is surrounded by five lakes, Mantua has three that encircle the Italian city, which makes it pretty scenic. It’s also an extremely historic city—the Roman poet Virgil was born near the city, which was first established in 2000 B.C. It’s also mentioned in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” as the place where Romeo was banished to. The historic city’s old town was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as being designated the Italian Capital of Culture.

6. Obihiro, Japan

The sister city relationship between Madison and Obihiro, Japan, was built on both city’s agricultural climates. In fact, one of the main exchanges that the sister cities have with one another is agricultural students. Every year, students from both the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Obihiro University of Agricultural and Veterinary Medicines are exchanged and are given the opportunity to study in the other city. 

Obihiro is a city on Hokkaido, Japan’s second-largest island, with a population of more than 163,000. The city is well-known for its environmental efforts—it’s home to one of the most pristine rivers in Japan, the Satsunai River, and for decades, held annual tree-planting festivals.  

7. Tepatitlán de Morelos, Mexico

Before Madison was ever a sister city with Tepatitlán de Morelos, Wisconsin became a sister state with Jalisco, Mexico, the state Tepatitlán de Morelos is located in. It only makes sense that a city within Wisconsin would then become a sister city with one in Jalisco. Madison officially became sister cities with Tepatitlán de Morelos in 2012. 

The Mexican city was first founded in the 16th century, and like Wisconsin, the city is known for its agriculture and is the largest producer of eggs in Mexico. The Madison Sister City Committee, among other local organizations, frequently holds events celebrating Mexican and Jalisco culture and also raises funds to have an academic exchange, sending Wisconsin students to Tepatitlán de Morelos and students from Madison’s sister city to Wisconsin’s capital. 

8. Kanifing, Gambia

In 2015, Samba Baldeh, now a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, won a seat on Madison’s City Council and was appointed to the Sister City Committee. Baldeh, of Gambian descent, noted that the city didn’t have sister-city relationships with any cities in Africa. Kanifing, Gambia, became Madison’s first sister city in Africa in 2016. 

Since then, Madison and Kanifing have partnered on several projects, including academic exchanges, as well as heritage and art fairs. The city is a major tourist destination in Gambia, and, like Madison, is also well-known as a university city, being the home of the University of the Gambia. 

9. Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

The fact that Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, and Madison are the capitals of their respective regions and states, homes to major universities, and surrounded by large lakes are a few reasons why Bahir Dar was chosen to become Madison’s ninth sister city in 2018. But that’s not all they have in common. Both cities are also passionate about biking.

Madison has more than 200 miles of biking trails, according to Destination Madison, and the Madison-Bahir Dar Sister City Initiative is trying to make Bahir Dar more bike-friendly as well. Bikeable Bahir Dar was a three-year project that helped to implement more areas for bike-friendly travel along a 2.5-mile road in the Ethiopian city. Bahir Dar, which is situated along Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia, and the Blue Nile, is one of the leading tourist destinations within the African country.

10. Cusco, Peru

Cusco is Madison’s most recent sister city, after its approval in 2022, and the city’s first sister city in South America. The Madison Cuzco Sister City Project has regular events and hosts visits from Cusco residents to share their culture. Unlike Wisconsin, which is relatively flat, the city of Cusco is set high in the Andes mountains and has an elevation of more than 11,000 feet. Many travelers face altitude sickness when traveling to the Peruvian city.

Millions of tourists travel to Cusco each year, with many using the city as a launching pad for a journey to Machu Picchu, which can be reached through several days of hiking or a train ride from the city. That’s not the only notable site in and around Cusco—there’s also Vinicunca, also called Rainbow Mountain, a mountain with several stripes of different colors descending from its peak due to its mineralogical composition.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.