SWIFTKIRCHEN!! The Mayor of Germany has renamed a city. Initially called Gelsenkirchen, it is now to be known as SWIFTKIRCHEN…See details

Ahead of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stop in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, the mayor announced that the city would be renamed ‘Swiftkirchen’

Ahead of Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras Tour shows, the German city of Gelsenkirchen is getting a new, Swiftified name.

On July 2, Western Germany city Gelsenkirchen’s mayor Karin Welge approved temporarily renaming the city “Swiftkirchen” ahead of her Eras Tour stop in the city from July 17 through July 19.

According to a Google translated news release on the city’s website, the fun tribute was first suggested by fan Aleshanee Westhoff, who started a petition and wrote to the mayor about the change.

“It’s a great idea to temporarily rename Gelsenkirchen to ‘Swiftkirchen,’ ” Mayor Welge wrote in a response letter to Westhoff, according to the Google translation from German to English. “I’m particularly pleased that you can experience the short-term ‘renaming’ of Gelsenkirchen live and up close in Gelsenkirchen today.”

Markus Schwardtmann, the head of Gelsenkirchen’s public relations department, also confirmed that the city “will be installing many more signs in highly frequented places in Gelsenkirchen in the coming days.”

“As mayor, I am of course very happy that Taylor Swift, currently the most successful singer in the world, will be performing three times in Gelsenkirchen,” Welge said in a translated statement on the city website. “International attention will therefore be back on our city.”

Along with the name change, other Swift-inspired changes will come to the city including a “Taylor Swift tram” from Bogestra — the local public transport in the city — and a stone that will be added on the city’s Walk of Fame. Closer to the show dates, Gelsenkirchen will also host a “a big open-air Taylor Swift party” called “Taylor Town,” which will include “lots of offers (swap market, karaoke, tattoos) related to the star.”

“There will be many small and large surprises so that the Swifties in Gelsenkirchen have a lot to discover,” Schwardtmann said.

The German city is not the only one that’s pulled out all the stops to welcome the “Bejeweled” singer and the Swifties. Back in March 2023 — at the beginning of the Eras Tour — the city of Glendale, Arizona, was temporarily renamed “Swift City” in honor of her tour stop in the city.

Glendale’s Mayor Jerry P. Weiers issued the proclamation on March 13, 2023, and revealed the new name would be in effect for March 17 and 18, 2023. The city of Santa Clara, Calif., was also renamed “Swiftie Clara” and Swift was declared the “Honorary Mayor” for her stop in the city back in July 2023.

Before her first performance in Gelsenkirchen on July 17, Swift will first stop at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam from July 4 through July 6.