Gengenbach’s Town Hall Turns Into an Advent Calendar Again
Twenty-four windows, one each evening at six, with this year’s motifs by the illustrator Olaf Hajek.
Gengenbach is a small half-timbered town in the Black Forest's Kinzig valley. Every December it does one thing very well: its historic town hall becomes a giant Advent calendar, billed locally as the largest Advent calendar house in the world. Its 24 windows are lit one at a time, one each evening, until the facade is complete.
This year's calendar
For 2026, the windows carry motifs by the illustrator Olaf Hajek. There is a practical complication. The town hall is under scaffolding, so the town is showing a full-size image of the building on the scaffold itself, with the windows built into it. A new window opens every evening at 18:00 from 30 November to 23 December. The finished calendar stays up on the Historischer Marktplatz until 6 January 2027.
A stage in front of the town hall puts on music, storytelling and live performances before each opening. It starts at 17:00 on weekdays and at 15:00 at weekends.
The market
The Gengenbach Adventsmarkt runs from 27 November to 23 December 2026. It is open from 14:00 to 20:00 Monday to Friday, and from 11:30 to 20:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. A weekday visit is the more civilized option: arrive in the late afternoon, walk the old lanes while there is still light, and be in the square for six o'clock.
Make a trip of it
Gengenbach is an easy addition to an Alsace Christmas itinerary, since Strasbourg is just across the Rhine. It also suits a slower few days in the Black Forest, which tends to look its best under snow.
