The big fence gate of the tower of Jelgava Holy Trinity Church will be opened on Saturday

The big fence gate of the tower of Jelgava Holy Trinity Church will be opened on Saturday

This week, the large metal gate of the Jelgava Holy Trinity Church tower was delivered from Jelgava’s sister city Rieijmalmezon in France to our city. This French gift to Jelgava is a symbol of friendship for more than 15 years of successful cooperation between the two cities in various fields. On Saturday, April 27, at 12 o’clock, the opening of the big gate will take place at the tower, in which Jelgava residents are also invited to participate.

The design of the large fence gate was developed based on the study of historical photographs of the gate and matching it with the existing small gate to form a unified architectural ensemble. The recommendations and suggestions of the National Cultural Heritage Board are taken into account in the work process.

Symbolically strengthening and appreciating the long and successful friendship of the two cities, the big coat of arms of the city of Jelgava and the coat of arms of the city of Rieijmalmezon are embedded in the gate. This exclusive gift to Jelgava was created by the metalworking masters of Rieijmalmezon. The main author of the gate is the blacksmith and metalworking master Antonio Dias, who is participating in the installation of the gate in Jelgava this week together with the workshop manager of Rieijmalmezon Municipality Eric Dupuy.

From April 26 to 28, a delegation from the sister city of Jelgava in France, Rieijmalmezon, will visit the city – the mayor of Rieijmalmezon, Patriks Ollier, and other representatives of the city’s municipality. The guests will take part in the opening of the new gate, and on April 27, together with the management of the city of Jelgava, they will plant five new trees on Pasta Island and go to the coast of Driksa, where a unique large-scale underwater cleanup will take place. Also, on Saturday, the delegation will visit Jelgava Amatu Secondary School and the Metalworking Training Park of the Zemgale Region Competence Development Center to talk about further cooperation and new projects in education.

It should be noted that the twinning agreement between Jelgava and Rieijmalmezon, which envisages cooperation in the fields of education, science, technology, civil defense, crisis management and city infrastructure monitoring, culture, sports, health care, human resources and business, was concluded in June 2007. So far, the cooperation between the two cities has developed most closely in the field of education, with educators and students going on exchange trips, learning new skills, methods and getting to know a different approach to the implementation of the educational process. The longest cooperation is directly between Jelgava Amat Secondary School and Rieijmalmezon Training Center in metalworking and construction. During these years, more than 140 young people have been in practice in France, and more than 100 have been accepted in our city. There is also a successful cooperation between the art schools of the two cities.