34 Sister City Monuments Around the World

Click here for Sisters Cities International.
Click here for Wikipedia article about Twin Towns & Sister Cities.
Click here for a Waymarking website showing many sister city monuments (but lacking dates).

Right click image to enlarge.

1905 - Japanese Shinto-Torii Monument, Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan (USA). "Brought by Govenor Chase Osborn [1860-1949] for use as an entry monument [sic]. It is no longer used for that purpose though. Nearby there is a sign that mentions Sault Ste. Marie's sister city in Japan, Ryuo-Cho, Shiga-Ken. It was built in 1905 [sic]."

December 11, 1960 - Yokohama Friendship Bell, Shelter Island, San Diego, California, USA. Gift from sister city Yokohama (Japan) to the City of San Diego. Designed by Masahiko Katori [1899-1988], who also designed both Hiroshima Peace Bells (1964 & 1967) & Pacific Bell (1986), at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). World's first sister city monument?

1961 - Thai Bell, John Wilson District Building, Federal Triangle, Pennsylvania Avenue at 14th Street, Washington, DC (USA). Presented to the people of Washington by the people of sister city Bangkok (Thailand).

1962 - Kobe Bell, near Intiman Playhouse, Seattle Center (former world's fair grounds), Seattle, Washington, USA. Gift from sister city Kobe (Japan) to the City of Seattle at time of the Seattle World's Fair (also know as the Century 21 Exposition).

October 1965 - Japanese Friendship Garden, Kelley Park, San Jose, California (USA). "Patterned after Japan's famous Koraku-en Garden in Okayama (one of San Jose's sister cities)."

October 3, 1976 - Korean Bell of Friendship, Angel's Gate Recreation Center, 3601 South Gaffey Street, San Pedro, California (USA). Near Los Angeles (whose sister city in Korea is Pusan). Gift from Korea to the people of the USA for the US bicentennial. Entry #80 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

1982 - Bicentennial Friendship Fountain, Sterns Whart, base of State Street, Santa Barbara, Calfornia (USA). Sculpted by local artist James (Bud) Bottoms.

1987 - Fuente de los Delfines / Fountain of the Dolphins, Malecon, Puerto Vallarta (Mexico). Sculpted by James (Bud) Bottoms in sister city Santa Barbara, CA (USA).

July 4, 1982 - "Behold the Sea," Mendocino, California (USA). Sister city plaque for Mendocino & Miasa, Nagano (Japan). "At the tip of the peninsula." Sister city "relationship formed in 1980 due to the friendship of Mendocino artist Bill Zacha & Japanese artist Toshi Yoshida." Inscription (in Japanese & English): "The citizens of the sister cities of Mendocino and Miasa, Japan dedicate this plaque to the peaceful pursuits of the peoples of the Pacific Basin and to the protection of its environment that all living things there-in may exist in perpetual harmony." Information courtesy of Jill Hoyles 26Apr2015.

1985 - Friedensglocke / Peace Bell, in ruins of Aegidienkirche church, Mitte Quarter, Hannover (Germany). Replica of Hiroshima Peace Bell (qv). Donated by Hannover's partner city Hiroshima (Japan). "Struck at the memorial service for the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6 every year." [Google translation].

1985 - Hiroshima Peace Bell, Izumo Taisha Mission, North Kukui Street, Honolulu, Hawaii (USA). Said to be a replica of the Hiroshima Peace Bell. Hiroshima & Honolulu are sister cities. Both cities suffered from aerial bombardment during World War II.

1986 - Pacific Bell, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). Cast by Masahiko Katori [1899-1988] who also made the Hiroshima Peace Bell (qv). Dedicated by Yasuhiro Nakasone, Prime Minister of Japan.

1987 - Ro Ho En / Japanese Friendship Garden, Phoenix, Arizona (USA). "Created to express the positive bond between the peoples of the USA & Japan. Phoenix has had a sister city relationship with Himeji (Japan) since 1976. In 1987 the Mayor of Himeji proposed the garden. Representatives from Himeji have been instrumental in the garden's design & development ever since."

April 1988 - - The Peace Tree, Garden for Peace #1, Swan Woods Trail, Atlanta History Center, 130 West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, Georgia (USA). 14-foot life-size bronze statue created by Gia (Georgi?) Japaridze, an artist from sister city Tbilisi (Republic of Georgia).

May 24, 1989 - Garden for Peace #2, Tibilisi (Georgia). Created by sister city Atlanta, Georgia (USA). Image shows Atlanta mayor Andrew Young.

September 12, 1988 - Seattle Peace Park, Tashkent (Uzbekistan). "Covers a territory of 1.5 acres. The Seattle-Tashkent Sister City Association along with Peace Corps Volunteers created the park, decorating it with a fountain, a mosaic map of the world [in image], a striking sculpture by a Seattle-based artist, many decorative and unique tiles designed by Seattle citizens, and planting the trees that have grown over the years and now shade half of the park." Photo courtesy of Anatoly Ionesov 11/08.

February 1990 - Sapporo Bell, Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon, (USA). Gift from City of Sapporo, Hokkaido (Japan), to the City of Portland "in commoration of 30 years of sisterhood." Cast by Sotetsu Iwasawa, Iwasawa no Bonsho Co., Ltd., Kyoto (Japan). Rung electronically with bell from sister city Ulsan (South Korea) in sequence written by Robert Coburn.

About 1990 - Bell, Gardena Buddhist Church, 1517 West 166th Street, Gardena (near Los Angeles), California (USA). Related to Gardena's sister city Ichikawa (a suburb of Tokyo), Chiba Prefecture (Japan). Cast by Sotetsu Iwasawa, Iwasawa no Bonsho Co., Ltd., Kyoto (Japan).

1991 - Japanese Stone Lanterns, on bank of Snake River, Idaho Falls, Idaho (USA), home of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The two lanterns are a gift from sister city Tokai-mura (Japan), home of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI).

Date? - Sister City Garden, Kiwanis Community Park, Tempe, Arizona (USA). Renamed the Dick & Jane Neuheisel Sister City Garden in 2010. "Recognizes Former Delegates’ Adventuresome Friendships. More than 600 plaques line the walkway leading into the Sister City Garden, marking the footsteps of our student delegates who eagerly & courageously dared to participate in cross-cultural exchange & build friendships with their peers in our sister cities. Each plaque displays the names of both the Tempe student delegate & their sister city host side-by-side, symbolizing the friendships built during the exchanges..." /// ("In 2005, the US State Department selected Tempe as one of five US cities to be a 'Partner in Peace' with a city in Iraq, pairing us with Hilla, Iraq, the capital of Babylon.")

1992 - Disappeared - La Paz (Peace Dove), HemisFair Park, San Antonio, Texas (USA). Sculpture of a dove with its wings wrapped around the world. Sculpted by Cuauhtemoc Zamudio. "I have a request in to our San Antonio Parks & Rec department to find out what they did with the lovely peace dove, a gift from our sister city of Monterrey, Mexico, that disappeared from HemisFair Park a while ago." /// Information courtesy of Susan Ives (San Antonio Peace Center).

May 3, 1996 - International Friendship Bell, Bissell Park, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (USA). Represents 50th anniversary of the City of Oak Ridge. Paid for in part by contributons by the people of sister city Naka-Machi (Japan). Only inscriptions on the bell are PEACE, INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP, and the dates of Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and VJ Day. Bell cast by Sotetsu Iwasawa, Iwasawa no Bonsho Co., Ltd., Kyoto (Japan). Pavilion designed by University of Tennessee architecture professor Jon Coddington. Lower left image shows Hiroshima Boys Choir singing at the bell on March 30, 2006. Lower right image shows deliberate destruction of rotten bell pavillion on July 28, 2014. Click here to read history of this bell. Click here to see pictorial history. Click here to hear this bell on website of Ray Adams. UR by Herman Postma. LL image by EWL. LR image by Knoxville News Sentinel.

May 19, 1998 - La Cloche de la Paix / Peace Bell, Japanese Garden, Montreal Botanical Gardens, 4101 Sherbrooke Street East, Montreal, Quebec (Canada). "Created from an original design by Masahiko Katori [1899-1988], modelled on the Hiroshima bell." Presented by the Hon. Takashi Hiraoka, Mayor of Hiroshima, after signing a sister city agreement between the two cities. Entry #1357 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

Date? - Statue of Diana (The Huntress), Union Depot (1889), Pueblo, Colorado, USA. Copy of Fuente de la Diana Cazadora (1942) in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City. Gift from sister city Puebla (Mexico) to the City of Pueblo. Photo by EWL.

July 12, 2003 - International Peace & Friendship Monument, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington, Texas (USA). Similar monument in sister city Bad Konigshofen (Germany).

Date? - Peace & Friendship Monument, Arlington Park, Bad Konigshofen (Germany). Celebrates sister city relationship with Arlington, Texas (USA).

G R O V E

January 12, 2007 - Peace Grove, Coolidge Park, Chattanooga, Tennessee (USA). On Tennessee River. "The City of Chattanooga's special relationships with cities around the world will literally 'take root' as seven new trees are planted in Coolidge Park to replace the Slippery Elm damaged last summer. Each of the trees is native to Chattanooga's International Sister Cities & Twinning Cities & mark the beginning of a new landscape & garden called The Peace Grove: (1) Gangneung (South Korea) Ginkgo Tree, (2) Givatayim (Israel) Mediterranean Cedar, (3) Hamm (Germany) Linden Tree, (4) Nizhnii Tagil (Russia) White Birch, (5) Wuxi (China) Chinese Elm... The five trees mentioned above will be planted, landscaped & labeled (in English & in the language of their country of origin). Then on Arbor Day, March 2, two additional trees will be planted, with the help of school children, in honor of Chattanooga's Twinning Cities. (6) Swindon (United Kingdom) English Oak, and (7) Ascoli Piceno (Italy) European Hornbeam. /// As a recent visitor to our oldest Sister City, Wuxi (China), Mayor Littlefield acknowledges the significance of this effort & said, 'The Peace Grove will celebrate these cities with signature trees that will symbolize the growth & longevity of our relationships & mutual bonds between our communities." The idea for an international grove came to Gene Hyde who serves the City as Urban Forester, but also serves as a liaison for Sister City Nizhnii Tagil (Russia). Mr. Hyde said, 'Our Russian Sister City, and the many others, has challenges & interests similar to ours. We share expertise & have fostered friendships where each city can learn & gain from the other."

May 17, 2007 - The Sister City Plaza, Municipal Building, Broadway & Canyon, Boulder, Colorado, USA. Plaza pavement contains mosaics representing and naming six sister cities: Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Jalapa (Nicaragua), Lhasa (Tibet), Mante (Mexico), Yamagata (Japan), and Yateras (Cuba). Photo by EWL.

2007? - Peace Bell, City Hall, 500 Donald Street East, Thunder Bay, Ontario (Canada). "Thunder Bay & Gifu City (Japan) have had a formal Sister City relationship since 2007. On July 9 every year, the anniversary of the day in which air raids occurred in Gifu, the Peace Bell is rung in the hope of creating a world of mutual harmony & prosperity,” Shigemitsu Hosoe, [Mayor of] Gifu City, said in a statement. 'I hope that you & those in your city can share our wish, and that the ringing of the Peace Bell opens up an opportunity to tell the future generations of the importance of peace.' /// Commented Mayor Keith Hobbs [of Thunder Bay], 'Every year, we celebrate [the sister city] relationship, as well as call for world peace, during this ceremony, held at the same time in Thunder Bay & Gifu City. As our peace bell rings throughout our downtown south core, the tolling of Gifu City’s peace bell sounds throughout their streets, as well.'"

H O U S E

May 22, 2009 - Sculpture of Books, Bonn Square, Oxford (England). "A sculpture in bronze by Diana Bell. Presented to Oxford by the City of Bonn... Shows two piles of books: Some of the spines of the taller pile have KNOWLEDGE, TRUST, FRIENDSHIP, UNDERSTANDING engraved on them, while the smaller pile has the German equivalents: WISSEN, VERTRAUEN, FREÜNDSCHAFT, VERSTANDIGUNG. Uunveiled by the Lord Mayor of Oxford Mary Clarkson & Bezirksbürgermeister of Bonn Helmut Kollig." Info courtesy of Peter van den Dungen October 13, 2016. BOOKS SISTERS 2009

May 20, 2009 - Shanghai Monument, Zaabeel Park, Dubai (United Arab Emirates). "Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality and Mr. Feng Guoqin, Chairman, Shanghai Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference together on Wednesday unveiled the Shanghai Monument in Zaabeel Park. The ceremony was also attended by the Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Dubai Mr. Gao Youzhen, Assistants to the Director General of Dubai Municipality, Directors of the Departments and Heads of Sections in the Municipality, members of the Chinese delegation that accompanied Mr. Guoqin and a host of officials from the Chinese Consulate. The monument, set up as part of the sister city agreement signed between Dubai and Shanghai, represent replicas of different landmarks and high rises of the city of Shanghai such as the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin Mao Tower, World Financial Centre, Shanghai Centre (this 638 metre tower is still under construction), Chinese Construction Bank, Chinese Pavilion of Expo 2010, Park Hotel, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Chinese Customs Building in Shanghai and the Yang Pu Bridge."

M U R A L

May 8, 2010 - Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural, 119-1/2 Capitol Way North, Olympia, Washington (USA). By mural artist Susan Greene. The Olympia-Rafah Soldarity Mural Project (ORSMP) "furthers Rachel Corrie's dream of building a sister city relationship between Rafah, Gaza Strip (Palestine), where she was killed in 2003, and Olympia, Washington, USA, where she grew up and attended The Evergreen State College." See video.

2010 - Canberra Nara Peace Park, Canberra, Australian National Territory (Australia). "Located within Lennox Gardens on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. Features a small Japanese themed garden, large wooden gate & gazebo & a number of iconic cherry blossom trees. It also features two large stone lanterns - a large Kasuga lantern weighing five tonnes & a large Yukimi lantern weighing three tonnes,. The park was officially renamed to Canberra Nara Peace Park in 2010 and the occasion was marked by the commissioning of a major new art work by the Japanese sculptor Shinki Kato. Shinki Kato's eight-meter-high pagoda, made of pre-rusted steel plates, references Nara's famous five-storey pagoda, erected in 725 by the Empress Komyoh. The gardens were a gift from the people of Nara to the people of Canberra & celebrate the sister city link between Canberra, Australia’s modern capital, and Nara, Japan’s ancient capital. Design & construction was carried out by local designers & contractors who consulted closely with the city of Nara and the Embassy of Japan. The park is the site of the popular annual Canberra Nara Candle Festival, which is based on the Tokae festival held each summer in Nara."

Future - Peace Memorial & Garden, behind the Johnson-Phinney building, 117 Cass Street, Monroe, Michigan (USA). From Monroe News, February 18, 2016: " The Monroe County Historical Society is raising money to construct a peace memorial and garden honoring the 200 years of peace between the United States, Canada & Britain. “Two hundred years of peace is unusual,” Mrs. Guyor said. “Even though we were enemies then, since that time we have fought as brothers in arms in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and now.” The relationship should be acknowledged and celebrated, Mrs. Guyor said. “We have been more than allies,” she said. “Why do we not want to celebrate that?” A bronze sculpture, which already has been created, will sit atop a black granite base. The sculpture was made by Joseph de Angelis, who created a similar piece in the Navy Yard Garden [King's Navy Yard Park] in Amherstburg, Ontario, Monroe’s sister city. [See other de Angelis sculpture in China.] The bronze piece, which stands more than 5 feet tall, includes three intertwining muskets that sprout five roses at the top. A Native American feather is featured on one of the muskets. “Roses are a sign of peace,” Mrs. Guyor explained. “The feather is very important because of the Native American contribution.” Local artist Darlene Belair designed the monument, which will stand about 14 feet overall. Along the sides of the granite are cannon barrels, Mrs. Belair said. “We wanted to tie in the war and peace,” she said. "