A few weeks before Christmas Eve, one of Germany's oldest Christmas markets, the Dresden Striezelmarkt, will open this Wednesday (4.00 pm). To kick off the 598th season, an ecumenical church service is traditionally held in Dresden's Kreuzkirche before the congregation parades to the Altmarkt together with the Angel of Lights and the Miner. There, the almost 15-metre-high Erzgebirge pyramid is symbolically pushed into place and the 2023-millimetre-long Dresden Christmas Stollen is cut. More than 200 decorated stalls and around 180 program items await visitors until 24 December - including miners' orchestras, trombone choirs and puppet shows. One of the highlights is the Stollen Festival with its giant stollen and parade, which is celebrated with thousands of visitors on 9 December.
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