This article addresses the topic of sister cities, which is one of the concepts of our contemporary world that demonstrates people's efforts to maintain friendship and peace, but this excellent concept rarely transcends its symbolic status. The friendship between Isfahan and Freiburg is one of the sister-city ties that has gone beyond a symbolic intergovernmental relationship and may be regarded as a successful sister-city relationship in the world. In addition, it is an excellent example of how down-top interactions can influence top-level governmental relationships through public relations and cultural interchange. We attempted to examine the formation of this link, the activities of associations in Isfahan and Freiburg and their management structures of them.
In conclusion, we believe that what has made this connection special is the commitment of individuals, associations, and volunteers to maintain their primary objective, which is to foster intercultural understanding, despite all of the obstacles.

The sisterhood of Isfahan and Freiburg has a remarkable story. The narrative of sisterhood between these two cities that we will recount below is based on lengthy interviews conducted by our team with the directors of the friendship associations of Isfahan and Freiburg. The story had different sequences that occurred almost simultaneously. We divided it into 4 sequences to illustrate how people’s personal stories and emotions can lead to the connection of two cities. Then let’s engross through the story.

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The first sequence

Key Role: Dr. Mohammad Salvati
Professor of Karlsruhe University in Freiburg
Originally from Isfahan and a resident of Germany
In fact, the initial idea was not raised in an official meeting in the municipality, but it took place in a swimming pool!
It was Dr. Mohammad Salvati who proposed this idea. In November 1999, he went to Iran for winter vacation. On a cold autumn day, he decided to go swimming in a pool. There, he met Mohammadali Javadi -the mayor of Isfahan- by chance in the pool. Due to his great interest in both cities, Mr. Salavati promptly came up with the idea of proposing sisterhood right there in the swimming pool and talking about his long-standing wish for friendship between Isfahan and Freiburg. The mayor hesitated to welcome this to some extent strange proposal, nevertheless, they agreed to hold a meeting about this matter with the members of the city council at the Isfahan municipality. At that meeting, Mr. Salavati introduced Freiburg to the attendees and convinced all members to invite the mayor to travel to Isfahan. A few days later, Mr. Javadi sent an invitation letter to Dr. Rolf Böhme, the mayor of Freiburg. In the beginning, this invitation letter was surprisingly unexpected for the mayor, but eventually, it was officially accepted and announced by the local media of Freiburg. In June 2000, the first official trip of the Freiburg delegation, led by Mayor Dr. Rolf Böhme, a few representatives of the city council, and the media took place in Isfahan. At this stage, the Freiburg delegation sought to prepare a sisterhood agreement and Isfahan municipality was enthusiastic to establish a friendship agreement. However, this is not the entire story, since a similar incident was unfolding in Germany, where another individual was striving for a sister city relationship between Freiburg and Isfahan, as we will get to know in the second scene.

The second sequence
Key role: Unknown lady
A member of the Greens Party
Originally from Freiburg
In the same year 1999, a delegation of German parliamentarians traveled to Iran to collaborate on cultural interactions and environmental issues. Among the members of this delegation were a woman from Freiburg who was a member of the Greens Party. She had become enamored with Isfahan after visiting the city and also made many Iranian friends during her trip. Therefore, upon returning to Germany, she proposed the idea of sisterhood between the two cities to Mr. Böhme. The mayor liked this idea because he had traveled to Iran in his youth and had fond memories of it. Moreover, he had recently received an invitation from the mayor of Isfahan as well. These incidents encouraged the municipalities to bring the sisterhood of the two cities into reality.
Although the third and fourth scenes are marked as the turning points of the Isfahan-Freiburg sisterhood story. 

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The third sequence
Key role: Mrs. Fahimeh Aghili
Director of the cultural department in a municipality
Founder of Digar cultural and artistic institute
When the sisterhood agreement was signed between the two cities, Mrs. Aghili was the director of the municipal cultural department at the time, and she was also the founder of a cultural institution called Digar. As she was a municipal employee, she inadvertently got involved in the Sister Cities Department in the municipality. At that time, the interactions between sister cities were mostly symbolic and did not go beyond official formalities. However, it seems that the stories of these two cities are closely intertwined. Ms. Aghili's daughter was a student in Freiburg and had married a German archaeologist. Therefore, they made many multicultural connections with Iranian-German people. During one of her trips to Freiburg, Ms. Aghili met a lady named Fatima Schahin Roedflinger. But who was Mrs. Schahin and what role did she play in the sisterhood? To know it, we have to go to the next sequence.

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The fourth sequence
Dr. Fatima Schahin-Doerflinger Freiburg
University Professor
The last scene of the story describes how Mrs. Schahin, a German-Iranian teacher in Freiburg got involved in the sister cities project of Isfahan and Freiburg.
After the sisterhood story of Isfahan and Freiburg was raised, this lady was invited by the municipality to participate in meetings. Mrs. Schahin got acquainted with Mrs. Aghili through her friendship with Mrs. Aghili's daughter and son-in-law. Their friendship slowly grew into a sisterly bond. This bond brought their families closer. Ms. Aghili believes that the presence of her daughter and son-in-law, who was a German-Iranian doctorate student in ancient history at the University of Freiburg, helped to facilitate their interactions. As we mentioned above, the friendship of these two ladies gradually resulted in their real sisterhood, and the two genuinely felt like sisters. They said to us that First, our hearts bonded together then we spread it to their cities. Based on this friendship finally, they decided to take more significant steps to extend cultural interactions for citizens and expand the concept of sisterhood beyond a symbolic gesture. Based on these two women’s efforts, the Freundeskreis Freiburg-Isfahan association in Germany, and the Freiburg-Isfahan Friendship Association in Iran were established to independently implement and pursue their activities. Although the associations were viewed as the executive arms of the city councils, they operated and planned their own activities.
The important aspect of these associations was the efforts made by Mrs. Aghili and Mrs. Schahin to establish communication and friendship between the citizens of the two cities. In addition, it creates conditions in which the negative stereotypes and assumptions that people had about each other were eliminated gradually.
In fact, one of their main goals was these interactions that have happened using all cultural tools. From art to various connections such as meetings, conversations, exchange of handicrafts, visual arts, and also the connections between students in an academic context. These events, alongside each other, have led to an increased bond of friendship between the people of Isfahan and Freiburg, to the point where, as a symbol of friendship between the two cities, a street in Freiburg has been named "Isfahan Street". Similarly, in Isfahan, a street has been named "Freiburg Street".

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Activities
For the past twenty years, the primary objective of associations' activities in Isfahan and Freiburg has been to facilitate communication between individuals. Associations have made significant efforts to dispel prejudices on both sides, Iran and Germany. In order to achieve this primary goal, they have engaged in a vast array of activities. In the following, we address some of the significant ones in detail. According to Mrs Aghili, the association's primary target society is youngsters. Based on her previous work with teenagers at the Culture Department of Isfahan Municipality, she feels that relationships between teens from different cultures are crucial because they foster cultural exchange, language acquisition, extending perspectives, establishing empathy, and future chances. She believes that in order to flourish in today's worldwide environment, young people must develop cross-cultural communication skills and embrace diversity. With this aim, two organisations have launched a Homestay program for teenagers. For the first time, this project was carried out in collaboration with a group of Isfahan students from disadvantaged areas of the city. Because the major purpose was communication, children were accommodated in families; the common language was a strong emotional language, such as cooking local food or growing seedlings. This program was conducted on a regular basis in the following years with teenagers from Isfahan and Freiburg from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

Another distinguishing feature of the Isfahan Association is its consistent collaboration with the Armenian community. For centuries, Armenians have settled in the Iranian city of Isfahan. Nowadays, the Isfahan community is estimated to number around 6,500 people (Rezaei & Tadayyon, 2018). Although as a minority, Isfahan's Armenians have retained a distinct cultural identity and contributed significantly to the city's cultural and economic life. Mrs Aghili emphasised the constant attendance of Armenians at charity bazaars and the other activities of the association. For example, the Armenian music group represented Isfahan at the Freiburg Music Festival and continued performing in other European cities. According to studies, racial and ethnic minorities volunteer less frequently than nonminorities. However, the disparity in volunteering between minority groups decreases when "human and social capital" are taken into account (Lee and Brudney, 2012, p167).

Associations in both Isfahan and Freiburg also organize bazaars for charitable causes. These bazaars are held with the cooperation of the members of the associations. The bazaar displays Isfahan handicrafts and local food or sweets. The proceeds are provided to those in need, such as children suffering from cancer. Also, the revenues of the bazaar are sometimes used to assist Afghan immigrants in Isfahan, which, in addition to assisting the city's disadvantaged people, demonstrates the association's commitment to fostering partnerships and friendships with minority groups.
To add to that, the associations have presented a variety of exhibitions and workshops. It allows Isfahan artists to exhibit their work in Freiburg and vice versa.

Furthermore, the Friendship associations are committed to expanding cultural contacts between Iran and Germany on a broader scale. Another purpose of the associations is to introduce Iranian readers to German cultural productions in the first place and then to German-speaking nations in the second step. Hence, in collaboration with the German Embassy's culture department, cultural meetings with German-speaking authors are arranged during the Tehran International Book Fair, which is held annually in May, to promote and support these publishers and authors.

Facilitating communication between the universities of the two cities was one of the Isfahan Association's most important activities, in keeping with its primary objective: increasing communication among citizens, particularly the younger generation. The association was able to establish a relationship between the University of Isfahan and Freiburg, thanks to its academic members. This relationship was strengthened and expanded to environmental research fields in particular. There were research internship opportunities in Freiburg for Isfahan University students.
In addition to the activities indicated above, associations have a regular cultural calendar for annual activities held every year before the pandemic.
- a German summer school for university students of Isfahan
- Norooz Celebration (the first day of the Iranian calendar in mid-March) in Freiburg.
- Christmas celebration in Isfahan
- Travelling of Freiburg residents to Isfahan twice a year in May/April and October/November
Various side programs were frequently organized depending on who volunteered to travel to Freiburg. The majority of these individuals later became active members of the association. Now Almost 2000 volunteers work with the association in Isfahan. Mrs Schahin-Doerflinger says these visits made the residents of Freiburg in Isfahan feel more at home than in a strange city.

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