KIRMES & Park REVUE (English) Special: Rouen (Vorschau)

CHRISTMAS MARKETS
Art: the Christmas tree
at the Gedächtniskirche caused
a great furore. To the very right:
the Lucia Christmas Market at
Prenzlauer Berg
The Market at the
Operpalais
Christmas time at the Rote
Rathaus in Berlin-Centre
platz, and the Tauentzien was open right up until 1 st
January, 2012. A special highlight, apart from some
170 stalls, was the “General Assembly” of angels and
Santa Clauses on Sunday 4 th December. Once again,
the Christmas tree at this market hit the national news:
due the reconstruction of the Gedächtniskirche until
probably the end of 2012, it was near impossible to
put up a tall tree, and a lot of creativity was required
by the organising Berlin Showman Association
again. The clever solution was the installation of a
“Schrottbaum”, or tree constructed from scrap – in
the true sense of the word. It was a 7-ton “Traffic Tree”
created by the Berlin object artist Thomas Plattner,
comprising of 1,000 pieces. While the responses of
local visitors to this object d'art ranged from amusement
to irritation, it was a read crowd puller for
tourists and people interested in art – and as mentioned
before, a first-class lead story for the media.
The Lucia Christmas Market in the Kulturbrauerei at
the Prenzlauer Berg in the Berlin district of Pankow
is without a doubt something special. It is completely
dedicated to the Nordic and Scandinavian countries,
which also characterized the product choice at
the some fifty stalls.
The historic group of buildings with two inner yards
and its 19th century industrial architecture is perfectly
suited for the event. Among the attractions there
were a chain ride, a small kiddie ride, a small Ferris
Wheel, and a bungee-trampoline. The organiser was
the Ketering GmbH & Fête Company. The name
“Lucia” comes from the Latin word lux – “the light”.
Lucia – the bringer of light – is celebrated in Sweden
on 13 th December.
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