YORK has become the first place in the world to be twinned with itself.

York has been "temporally twinned" - meaning today's settlement finds it joined with its Norse predecessor, the Viking city of Jorvik.

The original concept of twinning was to promote better understanding between different cultures, but York councillor Sonja Crisp, cabinet member for culture and tourism, worked with experts from the city's Archaeological Trust to set up the twinning.

She said: “The whole idea of twinning cities was to promote better understanding between different cultures, and to build economic links between two locations.

"We’ve been doing this for the last 30 years with the Viking city that stood where York is today, with visitors coming to the modern city to learn about the Vikings.”

Interest in the Vikings has brought millions of visitors to the city, attracted not only by the recreation of a tenth-century cityscape at JORVIK Viking Centre – which is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary - but also by the wealth of Norse antiquities on display within the city’s museums and attractions, and even including to the names and layouts of the streets in the city centre itself.

The city which was built in 866 AD by the Scandanavian settlers is said to have been a "thriving metropolis" of international trade - dubbed by historians as the "Viking equivalent of modern Hong Kong".

York Archaeological Trust's Sarah Maltby said: “It seems fitting that, through this ‘temporal twinning’, York is recognising the cultural exchange that continues to take place. Once again, York’s Vikings are bringing us a world first.”

Jorvik is modern-day York's third twin city, as it is also joined with Dijon, France, and Münster, Germany.

The twinning will be marked by new signs which will read ‘Welcome to York – twinned with the Viking City of Jorvik’, which have been funded entirely by the York Archaeological Trust.