Hämeenlinna has been Tartu’s partner city in the Nordic Chain since 1991. The Nordic Chain network consists of six cities, including Tartu. All of them come together every two years in one of the six cities.
Tapani Hellstén, the Mayor of Hämeenlinna, has participated in the Twin Towns' National Cuisine Days event in Tartu twice, lending a hand in the kitchen at Big Ben Pub. The representatives of Big Ben Pub, in turn, travelled to Hämeenlinna in January 2009 to prepare food for the celebration of the Finnish city’s birthday.
In autumn 2011 the city governments of Tartu, Tallinn and Rakvere together with the three Finnish cities of Helsinki, Kotka and Hämeenlinna initiated an eco-project entitled ‘Working together for a better environment’ under the European Regional Development Fund’s INTERREG IVA programme in the central Baltic Sea region. The project included training events for eco-support persons and introduced means to make offices more environment friendly, such as reducing the use of printers, separating waste by type and implementing digital management.
The recipient of the Medal of Tartu from Hämeenlinna is:
- Kari Kolehmainen, who is the head of public and international relations at Hämeenlinna City Government. On his initiative and with his support, Tartu has gained a lot of invaluable experience from colleagues in Finland regarding the fields of youth work, social assistance, the judicial system, medicine, museums, local governance, culture and architecture. He has helped introduce Nordic cities on Hämeenlinna’s website as well as in local media in Finland.
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