Christkindelsmärik is a Christmas market

Christmas Market

A Christmas market, also known as Christkindlmarkt, Christkindlesmarkt, Christkindlmarket, and Weihnachtsmarkt, is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent...

 (French: Marché de Noël) held annually in Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, near Strasbourg Cathedral

Strasbourg Cathedral

Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Strasbourg, France. Although considerable parts of it are still in Romanesque architecture, it is widely consideredSusan Bernstein: , The Johns Hopkins University Press to be among the finest...

.

History

Strasbourg has been holding Christkindelsmärik around its cathedral since 1570.

The Christkindelsmärik, Marché de l'Enfant Jésus, is one of the oldest Christmas markets. It draws between 1.5 and 2 million visitors each year and has over sixty stalls.

The market takes place annually, from 24 November to 24 December. It mainly takes place on Place Kléber

Place Kléber

The Place Kléber is the central square of Strasbourg, France.Place Kleber, the largest square at the center of the city of Strasbourg in the heart of the city's commercial area, was named after general Jean-Baptiste Kléber, born in Strasbourg in 1753. In the square is a statue of Kléber, under...

, Place Broglie, Place du Marché aux cochons de lait and around the cathedral.

Planned bomb attack

The Strasbourg Cathedral bombing plot

Strasbourg cathedral bombing plot

The Strasbourg Cathedral bombing plot was an al-Qaeda plan to bomb the Strasbourg Christmas market at the feet of Strasbourg Cathedral during the Christmas celebrations of 2000...

 was an al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...

plan to bomb the Christmas market at the foot of the cathedral during the Christmas celebrations of 2000.

The tree

The Christkindelsmärik's Christmas tree is traditionally of imposing height. Topping at 32.5 m (106.6 ft), the 2010 tree surpassed its already high predecessor of 2009 at 28 m (91.9 ft).

External links

• Strasbourg, capitale de Noël (in French)
• Christkindelsmärik, Strasbourg, on photo-alsace.com (captions in French)