Sister Cities News

Magdeburger Kulturwoche in Nashville

Dr. Lutz Trümper und Bill Purcell Magdeburg & Nashville – a city partnership that joins friends and mutual interests on both sides of the Atlantic. On the occasion of the “Magdeburg Culture Week Nashville” from April 22nd until April 28th 2004, an official delegation from Magdeburg will travel across the big pond and visit its partner city.

The delegation is led by Magdeburg’s Lord mayor Dr. Lutz Trümper and the adjunctive for culture and sport Dr. Rüdiger Koch. The seven day journey to the United States of America will offer all parties very diversified and exiting impressions.

Following the official opening ceremonies for the Otto von Guericke Exhibition at the “Adventure Science Museum” in Nashville, the world-famous experiment of the Magdeburg Hemispheres will be re-enacted in facsimile. Otto von Guericke (1602-1686) demonstrated the power of vacuum with his Magdeburg Hemispheres and hence led him to recognize the elasticity of air. Even teams of horses would attempt to pull the hemispheres apart which were only held together by the force of atmospheric pressure.

The Otto-von-Guericke-Society Magdeburg accompanies the re-enactment as well as the Otto von Guericke Exhibition at the “Adventure Science Museum” scientifically and conceptually. Furthermore, the director of the Cultural Historical Museum of Magdeburg, Dr. Matthias Puhle, will hold lectures at the various universities of Nashville with regard to Magdeburg’s 1200th anniversary in 2005.

The artistically decorated Hemispheres, a present from Magdeburg to her sister city Nashville, were solemnly consigned to Mayor Bill Purcell in November 2003. But these Hemispheres conduce only as an example for the experiment according to Guericke’s teachings. They rather symbolize the close friendship and deep solidarity between Magdeburg and Nashville also in the “Adventure Science Museum” in Nashville, Tennessee. Further highlights of the trip will be the performances of the Magdeburg Puppet-Theatre and the “Georg-Phillip-Telemann” orchestra.

On behalf of the German-American Dialogue Centre we would like to thank the Stadtsparkasse Magdeburg for their eminently generous contribution and the Städtische Werke Magdeburg for their kind support. Only with the help of their donations becomes the “Magdeburg Culture Week” possible.