NUREMBERG - WHAT PERSPECTIVES!
Every year, Germany's most famous Christmas Market opens its stalls for visitors from all over the world, right in the middle of the city, on Nuremberg Main Market Square. At 5.30 p.m. on the Friday before the first Advent Sunday, the Christmas Angel opens her market, reciting the solemn prologue from the gallery of the church of Our Lady.
About 180 wooden stalls, festooned with red-and-white cloth, have given the Christmas Market its name of "Little Town from Wood and Cloth". 200 stall holders present their traditional wares: Nuremberg spicy gingerbread, fruit loaves, bakery goods and sweets, typical Christmas articles such as Christmas tree angels, cribs, Christmas tree ornaments and candles, toys as well as arts and crafts products. Favourite souvenirs include "Nuremberg Plum People", little figures made from prunes. And of course, by way of refreshments, there are always rolls with Nuremberg roast sausages and mugs of mulled wine.
The staff of the Market Department keep a watchful eye on the stalls and the goods on offer. So plastic fir garlands are a definite no-no, just as much as non-stop taped Christmas muzak or carousels. The market's stall holders also compete for the most beautiful and tasteful stall design. And reap their rewards: since 1981, the City has presented an annual award of gold, silver and bronze "Plum People" for the most beautiful stalls.
Nuremberg Christmas Market with its traditional image has also been a model for other Christmas Markets. The "Little Town from Wood and Cloth" has also been much in demand as a picturesque backdrop for TV productions.
Nuremberg's Christmas Market is one of Germany's oldest Christmas fairs. The pre-Christmas event on Nuremberg's Main Market Square dates back to the mid 16th century. A list from 1737 demonstrates that almost all Nuremberg craftsmen were represented on the market. 140 persons were entitled to offer goods for sale.
After World War II, the Christmas Market was re-established in the Old Town which had been completely destroyed. Friedrich Bröger, head dramaturg at Nuremberg Theatre and son of workers' poet, Karl Bröger, wrote a new prologue which – with a few changes – has been recited by the Nuremberg Christmas Angel ever since. From 1948 up until the early 1960s, Nuremberg actress Sofie Keeser played the Christmas Angel. Her successor, Irene Brunner, was also an actress and played the part until 1968. Since 1969, the tradition has been different: every two years a young Nuremberg woman between 16 and 19 years of age was elected as Christmas Angel for a two-year period.
Every December, a wide variety of events and programmes on offer around the Christmas Market transforms Nuremberg into a true Christmas City. The pretty market held nearby featuring Nuremberg's sister cities add some international flair.
The youngest visitors are catered for on the Children's Christmas Market, with its historic carousels and with the children's programme in the "House of Stars". Over 1700 boys and girls from Nuremberg's schools join the lantern procession with lanterns they made themselves, parading up to the Castle Hill where the Christmas Story is retold in tableaux. Exhibitions with cribs, arts and crafts or featuring ancient Christmas traditions, a ride in a stagecoach and the city centre with its festive lights, all of those add to the Christmas spirit for Nuremberg's visitors. And so it is no surprise that the German Centre for Tourism has awarded Nuremberg with the honorific title "Number One Christmas City".
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