Aachen Christmas Market

Last weekend I caught the train, 250km south-east across the border to Aachen, Germany. This town also known by its French name Aix-la-Chapelle is close to the borders of both The Netherlands and Belgium, and like many towns across Germany holds a Christmas Market or Weihnachtsmarkt during the four weeks of Advent.  And hat’s why I am here. When I arrive in the early afternoon, I find little stalls set up in Aachen’s quaint old town around the gothic Cathedral and the 17th century Rathaus (town hall). Local people are selling handicrafts and traditional German Christmas decorations and there are very pervasive and persuasive aromas of French crepes, Belgian waffles, roasting sugared nuts, cinnamon and clove and smokey Bratwurst frying. I sample a bit of everything for the cultural experience. 

Aachen Christmas Market

Half metre long Bratwurst

The crowd, a mix of German, English, French and Dutch speakers, builds in the evening and the market really becomes a hangout with undercover cosy bar areas for glühwein drinkers. The strong, hot spicy wine that burns my throat is really essential for staving off the freezing temperatures. It also has adequate alcohol (perhaps mine had an extra shot of brandy) to mess with my good sense enough that I am buying two of the most kitschy glühwein mugs imaginable. One red, the other green, shaped like Christmas stockings with writing that says Aachen Weihnachtsmarkt 2011.  What was I thinking? At least it’s not a T-shirt. And I was probably still under the influence when I bought a little wooden painted smoking man (called a Raeuchermännchen is German). He’s 15cm tall, with a white beard, wearing a green hat, holding a tray of gingerbread and smoking a pipe. When I lift him off his stand, I can light an incense cone that he then smokes out his pipe. My best and most tasteful purchase was a handcrafted ceramic candle light house (Lichthäuser). Although it has no purpose but to look pretty and Christmassy lit up with a tea light.

The rest of my Christmas market money went on Aachener Printen a type of Lebkuchen or gingerbread with a secret recipe only made in Aachen. It’s available soft or hard, chocolate covered or with an almond pressed in it’s centre, bite sized or computer keyboard sized, some with a blob of marzipan on top, even in star, heart, animal and Christmas tree shapes. There are several brands of Aachen Printen and numerous stalls and shops where customers are shoulder to shoulder buying up shopping bags full of the stuff, me included. Apparently every year more than 4,500 tons of Printen dough are produced in Aachen factories and bakeries: Aachen is famous for the stuff.

Shop windows full of Aachener Printen

But before the locals were printen bakers, they were subjects and neighbours of Charlemagne or Charles I (742-814), the first Holy Roman Emperor from 800 to 814, when he ruled over most of Europe. Charlemagne like Aachen so much, he had his palace there. 

Bronze cast of Charlemagne in the Rathaus

The Aachen Cathedral was erected on Charlemagne’s orders in 786, and he is still buried there today, although the huge gothic church has undergone many additions over the centuries. I visited this cathedral, with gorgeous gilded mosaic decorated dome ceilings. 

Aachen Cathedral

Domed ceiling in the Aachen Cathedral

I also visited the beautiful Rathaus or town hall. On the ruins of Charlemagne’s palace a town hall was built in the 14th century, this building was rebuilt in baroque style in the 18th century after a fire and has numerous references to Charlemagne. There are 19th century frescos telling the story of Charlemagne’s life, a bronze cast and oil paintings. 

Aachen Rathaus

Today the town hall is a working city hall but also where the international Charlemagne Prize is awarded. Since 1950, an annual prize is awarded to an individual or group actively involved in European unification. It’s distinguished laureates include Winston Churchill (1956), King Juan Carlos of Spain (1982), Henry Kissinger (1987), Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (1996), Tony Blair (1999), Bill Clinton (2000), Pope John Paul II (2004) and Angela Merkel (2008). All these important folk have therefore visited Aachen to make their acceptance speeches. I am sure they also took home bags of Aachener Printen.