Denver citizens may not notice them, but a collection of Denver Sister Cities display cases outside the office of the Mayor in Denver’s City and County Building—a position currently being held by Mayor Mike Johnston—contain artifacts that represent the relationships that Denver has with its Sister Cities around the world.
Since the 1950s, Denver has partnered with 10 sister cities across oceans and continents, with partnerships signed by a succession of Mayors:
During Mayor Webb’s tenure as Mayor (1991-2003), Roz Duman served as Director of Scheduling. When Mayor Webb decided to celebrate Denver’s Sister City relationships with permanent displays on the third floor of the City and County Building in the hallway outside his office, it was Duman’s responsibility to assemble the artifacts that would represent the close ties Denver had with these cities across the globe.
“This was his brainstorm, his baby,” Duman says.
The slender, tall glass cases flanked by country and city flags are lined up against a wall and contain a museum’s worth of artifacts and symbols representing each sister city, from a Hannukah menorah from Karmiel to a model yatai, or festival float, from Takayama (a miniature of one that participated in the 9News Parade of Lights recently), artwork from Brest, a vase from Kunming, pottery and baskets from Cuernavaca, a memorial sculpture from Axum, a Mongolian fiddle and hats from Ulaanbaatar, beadwork from Nairobi, Kenya, wine bottle from Potenza, Italy, religious symbols from Chennai, India and a lot more.
It was Mayor Webb’s idea to honor and celebrate Denver’s Sister Cities, but Duman was the perfect person to bring his vision to life. She’d already been involved with Denver Sister Cities International.
“I can't even give you the date (she joined DSCI),” she says. “How far back it was, it was pre- my working with Mayor Webb. I've been with Sister Cities for so long because of the mission, their mission, bringing people from all over the world. President Eisenhower created this after World War II to bring peace in the world. And that is what we're all about. And I have worked with Sister Cities for years and years. I was vice president for a while as well. It's a long time ago.”
As for the display cases, she says her recollections are a bit hazy.
“My memory of exactly when I started with Mayor Webb, was when he was reelected his second term. Mainly, I did scheduling for him to begin with, and then I took on some other projects, and I worked very closely with him when he came up with the idea for the displays because his administration was very, very involved with Sister Cities International, and he wanted to showcase all of our sister cities at that time."
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Become a Member“So if I remember correctly, we started with the sister city in France, Brest, and I worked with the Mayor, and I worked with the chairs of each sister city. The last one was Mongolia.”
She turned to each sister city one by one.
“And I called the chair and asked them what they wanted to display. And I worked with them, and they created their own display. And then we would have big ceremony with the mayor and the sister cities folks, in the rotunda."
“And it was so exciting, wonderful, you know, announcing that we have this exhibit, our first for Brest, France, and then we were going to go one from one city to another. And I had the privilege and honor of working with all of the chairs and people in the sister cities. And of course, I was still a member at that time. So it was a beautiful, beautiful time for me to be working with Mayor Webb.”
Today, Duman continues to work bringing people together globally, as the founder and Executive Director of Coalition Against Global Genocide, an organization rooted in her Jewish heritage and awareness of the Holocaust, but also all the hatred, violence and genocide happening throughout the world and within the US with anti-Asian hate and violence against African Americans and indigenous people.
But she’s glad she got the chance to work with Mayor Webb and to bring Denver’s Sister Cities to the City and County Building, which reflected his commitment to bridging countries and cultures.
“He was one of the greatest mayors, as far as I'm concerned, for this city,” she concludes. “He was a people person. The reason I wanted to work with him is because of his values and that he felt so strongly about bringing people together.”
Denver's City and County Building, also known as City Hall, is located at 1437 Bannock St., Denver, on the west side of the city's Civic Center Park. Visit the Display Cases yourself on the 3rd floor and discover Denver's ten sister cities.
