Braunschweig Christmas Market

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Entrance to the Christmas market
Great pyramid in front of the castle
The Burgplatz with the Brunswick Lion in the center, on the left the cathedral , state museum , Veltheimsches Haus , Huneborstelsches Haus and Dankwarderode Castle (right).
Lion and cathedral

The Braunschweig Christmas Market has a tradition of over 500 years . Due to the architectural ensemble on the " traditional island " around the Brunswick Cathedral , with Burgplatz , Dankwarderode Castle , the Huneborstel House , the Vieweghaus and with the Brunswick Lion in its center, the Brunswick market is one of the most beautiful and atmospheric in all of Germany and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year; in 2008, for example, around 900,000 visitors came.

origin

A market actually known as the “Christmas market” appears to have been held in the 14th century on the old town market either at Christmas or shortly afterwards. In 1385 the market took place on January 1st and 2nd, but was later (possibly around 1505) moved to the time before the festive season.

In 1498 the Guelf sovereign, Duke Heinrich the Elder, issued the city of Braunschweig a privilege to hold two annual markets, the timing of which is not clearly recorded in the next few years. In 1505, the Roman-German King Maximilian I of Habsburg put two annual markets in the city under royal peace , which “begin on the Friday after Ascension Day and on the day after the Conception of Mary (December 8th) and last for ten days. The visitors had royal protection ten days before and ten days after […] ”. After the city lost its independence in 1671, the market began "on the Sunday before Christmas" .

These fairs originally took place mainly on the old town market and the Kohlmarkt .

The writer Ricarda Huch , who was born and raised in Braunschweig, wrote in her book Im Alten Reich in 1927 . Pictures of life in German cities :

“I found Martini [ Martinikirche ] and Katharinen [ Katharinenkirche ] most wonderful , when in the evening the Christmas market with blinking lights and booths full of strange, stiff dolls and lambs played around them, aromatic forest firs leaned against their feet and their gigantic shape lost in haze and cold. "

development

The first Christmas market after the end of the Second World War took place in 1946 on the square in front of Braunschweig Castle . In the following years it was built on the Hagenmarkt .

In 1956 the Christmas market was first held on Burgplatz. The market area grew in the course of the next decades around the section of Münzstraße next to the town hall , part of the Ruhfäutchenplatz , almost the entire Domplatz with the roundabout of the Heinrichslinde and around the Platz der Deutschen Einheit . Since 2009, the historic moat of Dankwarderode Castle has also been included in the market: through the original course of an oker arm in the ditch, traced with illuminated broken glass, and wooden rafts "anchored" on it .

The Burgplatz had served as a weekly market until 1954 , before 1889 and then again from 1973 as a pot market with the range of porcelain, earthenware and household dishes. After the pot market had taken place twice a year at the beginning of spring and in late summer until the 1990s, it was only held once a year after that, moved to Advent - until it was finally integrated into the Christmas market.

Since 2006 the Braunschweig Christmas Market has included more than 130 market stalls and rides ; Around 270 marketers and showmen apply for admission . In the selection process for the stands, particular attention is paid to the attractiveness of the stands and shops, which "must fit into the traditional, historical overall picture of the Christmas market". In addition, the Christmas market stalls or fairground rides are selected annually during the market that a selection committee considers particularly attractive or unattractive; While some are awarded a certificate, the others receive a "blue letter", formerly a "sour pine cone", and can also be "excluded from participating in the Braunschweig Christmas market for a period of up to five years".

From a legal point of view, the Braunschweig Christmas Market is a special market within the meaning of Section 68, Paragraph 1 of the Trade Regulations . The statutes governing participation in the Braunschweig Christmas market , which used to regulate the details, were repealed at the end of 2005 and replaced in 2006 with the transfer of corresponding rights to Braunschweig Stadtmarketing (BSM) by a split usage regulation with participation provisions for the Braunschweig Christmas market .

The Christmas market opens at its current location on the Wednesday after the last Sunday of the Protestant church year , the Sunday of the Dead , and has ended two or three days after Christmas Day since 2006 ; During the course of the market there is market quiet on December 24th and 25th .

Web links

Commons : Braunschweiger Weihnachtsmarkt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Norbert Jonscher: 900,000 visitors to the Christmas market. In: braunschweiger-zeitung.de. Braunschweiger Zeitungsverlag, December 30, 2008, accessed October 7, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Werner Spieß : History of the city of Braunschweig in the post-Middle Ages. From the end of the Middle Ages to the end of urban freedom 1491–1671 , Volume 2, Braunschweig 1966, p. 422
  3. ↑ City Chronicle Braunschweig. Entries for the period from 1250 to 1499. In: braunschweig.de. City of Braunschweig, accessed on November 24, 2011 .
  4. ↑ City Chronicle Braunschweig. Entries for the period from 1500 to 1599. In: braunschweig.de. City of Braunschweig, accessed on November 24, 2011 .
  5. ^ Richard Moderhack : Braunschweiger Stadtgeschichte . With timetable and bibliography. Wagner, Braunschweig 1997, ISBN 3-87884-050-0 , annual fair privileges (1498, 1505, 1521), pp. 84 .
  6. ↑ Werner Spieß: History of the city of Braunschweig in the post-Middle Ages. From the end of the Middle Ages to the end of urban freedom 1491–1671 , Volume 2, Braunschweig 1966, p. 423
  7. ↑ Ricarda Huch: In the old kingdom. Images of life in German cities. Volume 2: The North. Bremen 1927, p. 40
  8. ↑ a b c Conditions of participation for the Braunschweig Christmas market. (PDF) Braunschweig Stadtmarketing, December 1, 2016, accessed on January 16, 2018 (with a sketch of the market on page 7).
  9. ↑ Rafts in the historic moat. In: braunschweig.de. City of Braunschweig, accessed on October 7, 2012 .
  10. ^ Peter Giesau: Burgplatz . In: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . 4th edition. Joh. Heinr. Meyer, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 , pp. 53 f .
  11. ^ Norman-Mathias Pingel: pot market . In: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . 2nd Edition. Supplementary volume. Joh. Heinr. Meyer, Braunschweig 1997, ISBN 3-926701-30-7 , pp. 130 .
  12. ↑ Bettina Habermann: 33 days Christmas market around the cathedral. In: braunschweiger-zeitung.de. Braunschweiger Zeitungsverlag, November 17, 2009, accessed October 7, 2012 .
  13. ↑ Statutes on participation in the Braunschweig Christmas market. (PDF; 10 kB) City of Braunschweig, December 1, 2008, accessed on November 24, 2009 (published in the Official Gazette for the City of Braunschweig on December 27, 2005, p. 120).
  14. ↑ Büdingen Wiki: [1]

Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 52 ″  N , 10 ° 31 ′ 28 ″  E