In most places, hearing the world Christmas any time before November makes people’s skin crawl. This isn’t the case in a small beautiful town in Germany, which has been dubbed the country’s Christmas capital after embracing the festivity all year round.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber is located in the far-western German region of Bavaria and counts a little over 11,300 residents.
However, Rothenburg attracts 1.5 million people every year thanks to two unique aspects – its splendidly preserved medieval old town and its love for Christmas.
The latter can be clearly seen when visiting Käthe Wohlfahrt, a store selling Christmas decorations and articles every day of the year.
The head office of this store is in Rothenburg and offers, according to the website of the Bavarian tourism board, some 30,000 festive items.
Among them are handmade products made in-house, precious wood carvings from the Erzgebirge region as well as various, less expensive knick-knacks.
This shop is also home to Germany’s only Christmas museum, where snow never melts and festive tunes are played even during the hottest summers.
The museum was launched in September 2000 and showcases “the wonderful things people came up with for Christmas”, according to Harald Wohlfahrt, one of the founders of the company.
He added: “A 1.25 cm tall Father Christmas with a cane was my first acquisition for the museum. I discovered him in the display of a hawker’s shop. I had to convince the owner to sell it to me.”
Speaking of the shop, Mr Wohlfahrt added the idea of offering Christmas items all year round first came to his parents – and was a “genius” thought.
At the museum, visitors can learn about the German Christmas tree tradition. While in the UK the decorated tree was introduced by Prince Albert during the Victorian era, in Germany it dates back 400 years.
Moreover, in the museum can be found antique Christmas carousels, some as old as 200 years.
But Rothenburg ob der Tauber has more to offer than just Christmas 365 days per year. With its cobbled lanes, at times crooked houses and towered walls, the town is the archetypal fairy-tale Germany – and has served as either an inspiration or background to many programmes and films, including Disney’s Pinocchio and the 1962’s The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.
