Cologne Christmas Markets

Cologne's first Christmas market, the Nicolaimarkt, opened in 1820 and was banned in the 1880s after growing too large and rowdy, making today's markets a later revival rather than an unbroken medieval tradition. The Neumarkt and Alter Markt markets date to the 1970s, while the best-known, set on Roncalliplatz directly before Cologne Cathedral, opened only in 1995 and now draws an estimated four million visitors to about 150 stalls.

Cologne came comparatively late to the Christmas market tradition among major German cities: its first documented market, the Nicolaimarkt, opened in the old town only in 1820, and grew large and rowdy enough within sixty-five years that authorities banned it outright in the 1880s, a specific and unusual civic reversal not shared by most of Germany's older, continuously operating markets.