Göttingen Christmas market

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The Göttingen Christmas Market is the largest regular event in Göttingen . At the latest after the market was extended beyond Christmas, the number of visitors rose to over 500,000 per year. In front of the old town hall , the market and around the market church of St. Johannis , around 80 stalls take part in the event from Wednesday after Sunday in the dead (or before the first Advent ) to December 29th. The market is closed on Christmas Eve and the Christmas holidays.

history

The Göttingen Christmas market before 1901
Christmas market in front of the old town hall (2009)

The Christmas market is mentioned for the first time as a Christmas market in a letter of complaint from the Ministry of Spirituality to the city administration of Göttingen on December 20, 1852: The sabbath rest on Sunday was disturbed by the stalls. But the market is probably a few years older. In 1882, the Royal Police withdrew the market police from setting up the market stalls for a few years, as they were responsible for traffic and could thus counteract the traffic problems caused by the Christmas market. This led to some official correspondence. During this time, the market takes place from December 18 to 24. The market is mentioned as the "so-called Christmas market" and is said to have already taken place during the service time of the Marktvoiges Denecke (from 1848).

The Christmas market emerged from the weekly market that took place on the market square all year round. This is also confirmed by the fact that the Christmas market is not mentioned in the annual market statute of 1856 and the last annual market of the year took place from Thursday to Saturday after "Simon and Judas Thaddäus" (October 28), the Advent season was also long considered Lent and was therefore taboo for such hustle and bustle. Marktvoigt Klemm mentions in his letter of December 21, 1885 to the magistrate that the allocation of the stalls for the Christmas market according to § 5 of the weekly market regulations from 1856 had been contested by the Royal Police two years ago by the "Kommessair Peters".

The Christmas market appeared in the Göttinger Zeitung from December 20, 1864, mostly with advertisements for the sale of sweets and baked goods for hanging the Christmas trees. The Christmas market in 1901 took place around the new Gänseliesel fountain , which is generously kept free so that the Christmas tree sellers have to move to the Johanniskirchhof. During this time the market takes place from December 16 to 24; but this varied in the following years. In 1902 the market is called the Christmas market more and more often , and there is talk of the sale of Christmas trees. Like tree decorations and toys, these are still the market-specific goods.

After the Second World War, the Christmas market took place again on Gänseliesel for twelve days. At that time the bratwurst came to the Christmas market, the mulled wine has to be waited until 1980. In 1970 the stand operators founded the Christmas Market Association, which from now on supported the city administration in organizing the market. In 1972 the Christmas market was extended to 21 days, but had to live with the image of a sausage market, which is why the management committee limited the sausage stands to two. In 1973 the Christmas market started the day before the first Advent and was open until December 23rd. The start of the market in the 1980s was also the Monday after the Sunday of the Dead, and in the 1990s the Wednesday after the Sunday of the Dead became the fixed Christmas market. In 1994 the market was expanded to include Johanniskirchplatz with the consent of the St. Johannis parish; a stage program as well as a large nativity scene and an advent calendar were introduced. The number of stalls grew steadily afterwards: while there were 32 in 1994, there were 40 in 1995, 74 in 2000 and 81 in 2014. One reason for the expansion was that the artisan Christmas market at Nikolaikirchhof, the Christkindlmarkt , closed again in 1998 after only four years. Many artisans could thus be won over for the Christmas market. In 2002 the Christmas market was extended by three days after the Christmas holidays.

Web links

Christmas market Göttingen

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ev.-luth. District church archive, Spiritual Ministry Göttingen, A 344, protection on Sundays and public holidays
  2. ↑ a b c Göttingen City Archives, Pol.Dir., Compartment 126, no. 5, pages 7-22
  3. ↑ Stadtarchiv Göttingen, Pol.Dir., Compartment 126, no. 5, sheet 22
  4. ↑ Tanja Lange: Optimization strategies for regional events: The example of the Göttingen Christmas market, pp. 61–64
  5. ^ City of Göttingen, Department of Order and Market Management

Coordinates: 51 ° 31 ′ 58 ″  N , 9 ° 56 ′ 5 ″  E