Located just east of the state border and 20 km west of Chemnitz is the city of Glauchau. With a population of 22,300 inhabitants, the city on the Zwickau Mulde River has a lot of characteristics that make it charming. It has a lot of historic buildings, especially in the southern part with the villas and the Castle Complex with two castles into one. It had several Palla complexes during the time of East Germany- one for paints and one for textiles. The latter still stands empty and is located by the train station. It also has the Three Valleys to the Holy Land, bridged by three crossings and the churches are near the City Center.
One can now add a fancy Christmas market to the list of attractions. 🎄🎅.
I once reported the Christmas market in a series dating back to 2016. At that time, the market was very small with only one at the Market Square and another by the castle. Since that time, it has evolved and grown, while at the same time, attracted thousands more to the one-weekend event. This has to do with the following events that has happened in the last decade:
🏰Renovation of the Castle Complex:
Between 2021 and 2024, the Castle Complex underwent extensive renovations on the outside and in, as some elements were overdue for rework. It included replacing old abandoned garden houses with a park, rebuilding a 1700s bridge, rebuilding the front courtyard with a multi-purpose recreational area, new inner courtyard with a new facade and other projects. While the markets were cancelled due to Corona in 2020-21, much of the market activity took place in the multi-purpose recreational area in 2022 where it included an ice-skating rink, whereas the Medieval version of the market was held at the park the last two years.
Expansion of the Market since 2024:
Today’s market has indeed expanded. Apart from the Market Square, the market has now included the shopping area Ratshof next to City Hall, where one could find the kiddie railroad. The Medieval section of the market represented the section that connected the Market Square with the Castle Complex, whereas the Castle Complex opened to the public for the first time this year. In the front castle, there was an art gallery and tours of the castle to go along with the entertainment and food offered there. In the rear castle, some arts and crafts items, a gallery of fairytales, and a storytelling hut were located there. We had a chance to listen to some stories at the hut and it was like yoga and the Grimm brothers, all told into one. Entertainment was found both in the castle complex as well as at the market square, both of which were well-received by the visitors who enjoyed some dancing to the Christmas Bakery or some karoke songs. In either case, the market has grown in size and with that, its popularity. Something the town should be proud about.
What can be better for next time?
One of the next steps for Glauchau to improve its market is to extend the Christmas market time. Like in my last visit in 2016, the market took place during the second Advent weekend, which left little chance for people to plan a visit. Part of the reason for having it on one weekend is the competition with neighboring markets, including Waldenburg, Crimmitschau and Meerane as next door neighbors, as well as the larger ones like in Zwickau, Leipzig and Chemnitz. But when looking at the market in Schwarzenberg, one wonders if Glauchau could try and extend it to at least two weeks instead of one weekend. The extension would help with the city’s businesses, which has been suffering since the Covid-19 pandemic, as some shops and restaurants had to shutter as the owners have gone into retirement and not found a successor. Having such an extension would help Glauchau attract new businesses.
Another option is to extend the market to include the Shopping Mile along Leipziger Strasse, where some shops could open for extended hours or provide some huts for people to visit. Again, it would help businesses garner new customers and attract new businesses, as one in ten buildings are sitting empty, waiting to be used. This was seen in many cities, like Flensburg’s Shopping Mile along Roter Strasse, where one can find huts along the pedestrian zone. Glauchau has a layout similar to that, which would be a great starting point.
Overall, Glauchau’s market has improved significantly in the nine years since my visit and profiling. It has grown in size thanks to improvements to the Castle Complex and parts of the market square, with a wider selection of regional products, let alone entertainment and the like. Even though prices for products have increased significantly, the number of visitors at the market compensated for the potential for lost revenue. In either case, Glauchau has been creative in attracting people at Christmas time. The next phase is trying to attract businesses to the city for the long haul, especially as the population gets older and many owners who are retiring are looking for sucessors to keep the businesses running. The Christmas market is one way to attract people to Glauchau, but the city is looking for other ways to fill in the missing holes that have been left behind. Maybe the success of markets like this will solve this problem.
Story to be continued…….
You can see more photos of Glauchau’s Christmas market by clicking here.
THE FLENSBURG FILES 