Gengenbach Advent Calendar and Christmas Market

The World's Largest Advent Calendar

What began in 1996 as an experimental city marketing project is now an international Advent icon: The Gengenbach Advent Calendar. The Black Forest town's baroque town hall, with its 24 windows, forms the framework — each window is revealed on its respective day during the Advent season. Behind each window lies a work of art created specifically for the calendar: painting, illustration, photography, sometimes digital works. Each year, the town invites one or more well-known female or male artists — over the years, participants have included Marc Chagall (post-museum works), Tomi Ungerer, Andy Warhol, Marlies Engel, Tobias Rehberger, and Heinz Edelmann.

The Evening Unveiling Tradition

Every evening during the Advent season, the respective window is officially "opened" — a short program of light effects, a welcome, sometimes a small musical contribution. The audience gathers in the market square; the combination of artistic content, communal ritual, and the Black Forest town scenery makes the moment an emotional highlight of each Advent day in Gengenbach.

Advent Market Around the Town Hall

From November 27 to December 23, 2026, the accompanying Advent market runs in the market square and the adjacent alleys of the half-timbered old town. Open weekdays 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM, weekends 11:30 AM to 8:00 PM. Mulled wine cups made of regionally fired ceramics, candied almonds, gingerbread, Black Forest specialties, and craft stalls from regional vendors characterize the offerings. The medieval town with its white half-timbered houses, the Kinzigtor gate, and the cobblestone main street forms one of the most beautiful backdrops in the entire Black Forest region.

Gengenbach in the Ortenau Kinzig Valley

Gengenbach, with just under 11,000 inhabitants, is located in the Ortenau district in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in the Kinzig Valley at the exit of the Black Forest into the Rhine Plain. The former imperial city with its baroque monastery church, the 18th-century town hall, and the completely preserved half-timbered buildings is considered one of the most beautiful small towns in Southern Germany. The Advent calendar has brought Gengenbach into international guidebooks and Advent market rankings — making it one of Germany's best-known Advent destinations.