From 22 November The 2019 Christmas Market in Bonn
Bonn · The Christmas Market in Bonn city centre opens today, November 22 and there are over 170 stalls to entice you. This year, because of the Beethoven Year 2020, there are a few new features. The market will stay open until 23 December and here is all the information.
At press conferences on annually recurring major events, it is always good when there is something new to report. This is the case with the Bonn Christmas Market 2019, as the Stadthaus announced: the tried and tested concept will be refreshed this year by the fact that the Beethoven Year 2020 will already begin in December 2019. This will lead to small changes in Münsterplatz.
The mayoress will open the 2019 Bonn Christmas Market
What remains the same are the locations where this year's 177 stalls are distributed throughout the city: on Münsterplatz, Bottlerplatz, Friedensplatz and between the squares in Windeckstraße and Vivatsgasse. Poststrasse also belongs within the area of the Christmas Market.
The Bonn Christmas Market begins on Friday, 22 November at 11 a.m. – the official opening will be performed by Mayoress Brigitta Poppe-Reiners and the Endenicher male choir “Sangesfreunde 1844” at 5 p.m. in front of the Sterntor.
A few changes in Münsterplatz
On behalf of Beethoven Jubiläums GmbH, the Beethoven statue on Münsterplatz will be fitted with a light installation by the Berlin artists' collective Schultze, Müller and Krause for the Beethoven Year 2020. Beethoven will “float” above a spiral of light that surrounds the statue’s pedestal between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and from 4 p.m. onwards. For Malte Boecker, artistic managing director of Beethoven Jubiläums GmbH, the light tubes also represent a humanistic interpretation of the hermeneutic spiral and invite the viewer to engage with the composer's work.
Space will be made for this Beethoven display: two food and bar stalls, which otherwise normally flank the statue, are this year integrated into the rows of stands in front of them. Some craft stalls will have to make way for them and these have been assigned a square at the building fence in front of the cathedral. According to Markus Schmitz of the Bonn Press Office, the reason for this decision is not, of course, to prioritise culinary stands over handicrafts: “The two stands are larger than the arts and crafts stalls and therefore could not be moved in front of the Münster building fence.” Harald Borchert, market manager of the Christmas market, announced that this reorganisation around the statue will also occur at next year’s Christmas market.
Christmas Market in Bonn to Begin on 22 November 2019
Otherwise, everything remains the same as usual: The 2019 Bonn Christmas Market will be open from up to and including 23 December. The Christmas market will close for Eternity Sunday on 24 November. The handicraft stalls are open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., the snack bars and bars are open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 10.30 p.m., and on all other days from 11 a.m. to 9.30 p.m.
The Kleiner Muck association offers free childcare in the “Christmas House”. On the Saturdays in Advent, Christmas brass band music will emanate from the pyramid bar in front of the cathedral at 5 p.m. and on every Sunday in Advent there will be a puppet show at the Sterntor at about 12 noon and 12.45 p.m.
The tour “Advent magic in the city” through the Christmas market for up to a maximum of 15 people can be booked under 0228/773921 and/or 775001 or by email to bonntouren@bonn.de. On 15 December, there will be all-day Sunday shopping from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Further information about what is on offer and about the Bonn Christmas market is available at: www.bonn.de/weihnachtsmarkt.
Small markets in other Bonn neighbourhoods
Other Bonn neighbourhoods will also be hosting Christmas markets again in 2019. For example, the Nikolausmarkt in Bad Godesberg, which runs from 25 November to 23 December. It is open from Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. In Duisdorf, the Advent Market will take place from 29 November to 1 December, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Nikolausmarkt in Beuel will also take place on this coming first Advent weekend and the stands are open on Friday, 29 November, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., on Saturday, 30 November, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday, 1 December, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
There are also other Christmas markets in Bonn, each lasting for only one day, in Mehlem on 30 November, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and at the Holzlarer Mühle on 7 December, 11.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m.
What is where at the Christmas market? You will find all the stands in our overview map: Download the overview map here.
(Original text; ga.de, translation John Chandler)
