Dortmund Germany – Leeds, UK - Sister City Monuments on Waymarking.com

It was sculpted by Arthur Schulze-Engels and is a copy of a statue that stands outside the Altien Brewery in Dortmund. It shows a portly drayman carrying a barrel of beer.

Dortmund has always been famous for its beer and the large number of breweries in the City. Although Leeds was not known primarily for brewing, but it did have one large brewery so I guess the statue was an appropriate gift. Since then the Tetley brewery in Leeds closed in 2011, and a number of Dortmund breweries have also merged and closed.

This shows how times can change and industries can come and go. This website gives some history about the beer industry in Dortmund. http://patto1ro.home.xs4all.nl/dortpubs.htm

The brewery in Leeds opened in 1822, and some of the buildings that closed in 2006 have been converted into pubs and restaurants. A large part of the remaining buildings have now been demolished and await new development. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetley's_Brewery

The statue itself stands in a small plaza outside St. John’s shopping centre and when it was placed the name of the area was changed to be Dortmund Square. It acts as a focus point to the square and is used by locals as a convenient meeting point.

Twin Cities / Sister Cities: Dortmund twinned with Leeds Address: Dortmund Square The Headrow Leeds United Kingdom Text: IN APPRECIATION OF THE SUCCESSFUL TWIN TOWN RELATIONSHIP CHARACTERIZED BY GOOD WILL AND COOPERATION AND TO SYMBOLIZE THE FLOURISHING PROGRESS THE CITIZENS OF DORTMUND HAVE GREAT PLEASURE IN PRESENTING THE CITY OF LEEDS WITH THIS SCULPTURE. SEPTEMBER 1980 GUNTER SAMTLEBE                        OBER BURGERMEISTER

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Date Logged Log   03/08/2013 His 'n' Hers visited it