The background of the most emotional Christian festivity

The Historical German Christmas Museum, Weihnachtsmuseum, in Neustadt nearby Coburg articulates the history of the advent season and Christmas over the centuries with impressive displays of historical artefact. In an architecturally designed setting, located in the old dukedom of Coburg with more than 20,000 exhibits, it is the core of the Old Christmas Factory.
The development of the museum was driven by Klaus and Birgit Mueller-Blech and their love for those things surrounding the season of Christmas. Their desire is to share with everyone the spirit of Christmas past and present. With much enthusiasm, over 15 years they collected unique treasures which tell us the wonderful story of Christmas in an authentic way.
It starts with the Christian roots; here the visitors learn about the history of the nativity origin and can view the development of the regional different gift givers. On display are a wide variety of historic Christmas tree decorations, made of cotton/ wool (Sebnitz), luxury paper (Dresden) and ornaments with leonic wires, which were as popular as the glass ornaments from the mid 19th century on. Another major focus of the museum is the display of Christmas tree stands – cast iron stands with many functions; musical stands, the Garden of Eden variety of stands, and much more, as mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records; the largest collection of cast iron tree stands in the world.
The highlight of the museum is without a doubt the amazing display of glass ornaments from the last two centuries. The visitors are invited to learn about the history of glass Christmas ornaments. The authentic exhibit identifies the individual evolu tion of ornament trends reflecting the spirit of the time and brings to mind nostalgic memories of Christmas long ago.
An extensive display is also shown on beaded ornaments from Gablonz in Bohemia introducing its glass production with the historical background.
The work and living situation of the Thuringian glass blowers and the distribution of goods remained almost unchanged from the middle of the 19th century to World War II. One of the exhibits shows the three stages in the production of an ornament. It begins with the artistry of the glass blower and his family fashioning the glass, then moves to the wholesale/export system of the goods, and ends with a view of one of the handcrafted German glass ornaments adorning an American family’s tree.
Neustadt nearby Coburg is recognized as the center of toy production and as a refuge for glass blowers fleeing from Lauscha (East Germany). The continued development of glass decorations in the West and behind the iron curtain are further topics of our exhibition. In an audio guidance system, witnesses of the times share their episodes out of their childhood and their lives. Especially for young visitors, the difficult times between 1930 and 1950 in Germany are told for realization.
 The enchanting Christmas setting concludes with varying views of Christmas including the influences of Pop-Culture, production in the 1970’s and finally the newest trends.