Mayor of the City of Dresden Annekatrin Klepsch and Prague’s City Councillor for Culture Hana Třeštíková christened the new fire boats “Dresden” and “Prag” last week.

The two new fire boats of the Flotte Hamburg were ceremonially christened “Dresden” and “Prag” on 23 September by their two sponsors, Dresden’s Second Mayor Annekatrin Klepsch and Prague’s City Councillor for Culture Hana Třeštíková. In the presence of Hamburg’s First Mayor Dr Peter Tschentscher and CEO of Hamburg Port Authority Jens Meier, the ships then went on a short sea trial in the Port of Hamburg.

Mayor Dr Peter Tschentscher: “The new fire boats ‘Prag’ and ‘Dresden’ ensure safety in the port and can run emission-free with their plug-in hybrid drives. The sponsorship of our twin cities is an expression of our friendship and good cooperation with a wide range of relationships in business and administration, in education and science, in art and culture. The names and sponsorships of the new fire boats are a strong sign of Hamburg’s good relations with our partners on the Elbe and Moldova.”

Hamburg Visit
The programme of the two sponsors’ visit to Hamburg included a breakfast at Hamburg City Hall at the invitation of State Councillor Almut Möller, Hamburg’s Plenipotentiary to the Federal Government, to the European Union and for Foreign Affairs. In the afternoon, the christening of the two fire boats and a short boat trip in Hamburg Port took place. In the evening, the sponsors were invited to Hamburger Kunsthalle. City Councillor Třeštíková will open the exhibition of the Prague artist “TOYEN” there with, among others, Senator for Culture Dr. Carsten Brosda. The exhibition “TOYEN”, curated in cooperation with the National Gallery in Prague and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, was shown in Prague until August 2021 and will be on display at Hamburger Kunsthalle until 13 February 2022 before going to Paris in 2022.

On Friday, Councillor Třeštíková will meet the director of Hamburger Kunsthalle, Prof. Dr. Alexander Klar, to discuss further cultural projects between Hamburg and Prague, as well as the managing director of Hamburg Tourismus GmbH, Michael Otremba. After a tour of the Elbphilharmonie, guided by Barbara Lebitsch, the Elbphilharmonie’s artistic director of operations, Třeštíková will attend the ÄTNA & NDR Big Band concert as part of the Reeperbahn Festival in the evening before returning to Prague on Saturday.

Hamburg and the City Partnerships with Prague and Dresden
Hamburg maintains special relations with nine twin cities: Chicago, Dar es Salaam, Dresden, Léon, Marseille, Osaka, Prague, Shanghai and St. Petersburg. For over 30 years, the twin cities of Prague and Dresden have had close ties with Hamburg. The city partnership with Prague, which emerged from the Elbe River politics, is lived out in many ways by both the administrations and civil society. Business, science, culture and politics are in intensive exchange with each other. The university partnership between the University of Hamburg and Charles University, founded in 1348, has existed since 1980, i.e. since before the fall of the “Iron Curtain”. There are also numerous school partnerships.

Dresden is Hamburg’s only German-German partnership and dates back to before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was founded in 1987 with the aim of bringing the two cities on the Elbe closer together. Today, the city partnership thrives above all on the personal relationships that have grown over more than 30 years, the diverse contacts between the two city administrations and the cultural exchange of many institutions, such as the activities of the Dresden-Hamburg Circle of Friends.

Logistically, the Port of Hamburg is of great importance for Prague and Dresden: Hamburg is the overseas gateway for the Saxon-Czech economic area. In addition, Port of Hamburg Marketing has had its own representative office in Prague since 1990 – more than half of Czech container traffic is handled via Hamburg.