The titles of the European Capital of Culture in 2021 and European Youth Capital in 2019, together with other city manifestations and events with longer tradition, have already made visible the progress in branding Novi Sad and they advertise it as an interesting destination to visit. Additional confirmation of this trend is the yesterday’s celebration of the 269th birthday, which hosted the highest number of foreign delegations, since the 1 February has become the Day of Novi Sad.
Namely, the gala reception, hosted by the Mayor of Novi Sad Miloš Vučević and the President of the City Assembly of Novi Sad Zdravko Jelušić in the City Hall, was attended by the members of delegations from 19 cities. Guests of Novi Sad were representatives of cities friends and twin cities from Mexico to the Russian Federation – Norwich, Pécs, Toluca, Timișoara, Gomel, Budapest, Rijeka, Dortmund, Budva, Linz, Vienna and Nizhny Novgorod. The city of Novi Sad has gained two new friends, because the Agreements on Cooperation have been signed with Oryol from Russia and Ulm from Germany. Similar agreements will also be signed with cities from Israel, Greece and Cyprus.
The city of Ulm was open and cooperative with Novi Sad in the previous period, which is especially seen in the explicit support to the candidacy of Novi Sad for the European Capital of Culture. One of the new projects that has been agreed upon is the achievement of common goals included in the Danube Strategy of the European Union.
Furthermore, the strong relationship between these two cities is not only the Danube River, but also two people – Mileva Marić, a Serbian scientist that had spent most of her life in Novi Sad, and Albert Einstein, one of the greatest scientists ever, who was born in Ulm. In order to commemorate this connection, Mayors of Novi Sad and Ulm revealed an info-board on the house of Mileva Marić in Kisačka Street, where she lived with her husband Albert at the beginning of the 20th century. It should be noted that the preparations of Novi Sad for 2021, when it will become the European Capital of Culture, include the restoration of the façade of the family house of Mileva Marić Einstein.
