Merry Christmas

A couple months ago, we visited the town of Seiffen, located in the Ore Mountains in southeastern Saxony. The town of 2300 inhabitants is known by many to be the Christmas capital of the world and the birthplace of Christmas toys. Even its Christmas markets is one of the most visited places in Germany, ranking it in the top 10 with Dresden, Nuremberg, Berlin and Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

As we were stocking up on Christmas goods for our home and for some friends and family members in the US, we’ve noticed a new trend among Christmas arches (Schwibbogen) and these hanging Christmas stars. Traditionally, we have seen motifs featuring the small church in Seiffen, the Church of our Lady (Frauenkirche) in Dresden, the manger set and winter wonderland. Yet in the past 5-6 years, Saxony’s woodworks are featuing more and more of the state’s bridges. While the most popular motifs here are the Augustusbrücke in Dresden and the Markersbach Viaduct near Schwarzenberg, we’re also seeing more and more stone arch bridge motifs, like we see here in this set. Saxony has hundreds of arch bridges scattered all over the state, many of them are over 150 years old. It has fewer truss bridges and viaducts but some can be seen in the woodwork. At the same time, we’re seeing a growing appreciation of these bridges as they are being saved, one by one. Having a bridge like this one, symbolizes the crossings that were important when mining was predominant in the region and with that the need for railroads.

It will be interesting to see what other bridges will be used for motifs and what types. We have seen arch bridges and viaducts, but what about covered bridges and even the common truss span? I’ll be experimenting with that with my own Schwibbogen but if you have some ideas that will help, I’m all ears! 🙂

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Enjoy your Christmas Everybody! Remember, the 2021 Bridgehunter Awards voting is still ongoing and will continue between now and January 21st. Some updates were made on the ballots including making access to the voting platforms user-friendlier (at the beginning of each category) and adding the podcasts in four categories. All the candidates marked in blue are links you can click on to read more about them. The ballot remains in three parts.

To access the polls click on the links below:

Part 1: https://bridgehunterschronicles.wordpress.com/…/2021…/

Part 2: https://bridgehunterschronicles.wordpress.com/…/2021…/

Part 3: https://bridgehunterschronicles.wordpress.com/…/2021…/

Good luck with the voting and happy holidays, folks!

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