Hamburger Dom

The Hamburger Dom[1] is a large fair held at Heiligengeistfeld fair ground in central Hamburg, Germany. With three fairs (spring, summer and winter) per year it is the biggest and the longest fair throughout Germany and attracts approximately ten million visitors per year. It is also referred to as a Volksfest (beer festival and travelling funfair).

Entrance of Hamburger Dom at night in 2008.

Hamburger Dom puts on an impressive firework display at the Heiligengeistfeld, that can be seen across most of the city, every Friday that it runs at 22:30 hrs.[2]

History

A market in or in front of Hamburg's Cathedral (German: Hamburger Dom) was first recorded in 1329, at the beginning only in special seasons like Christmas. With the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century the fair was also held at other times. After the demolition of the cathedral (1804–1807), the market was held on the Gänsemarkt (lit. geese market) in 1804, but kept the name “Dom”. Since 1892, the fair has been held at Heiligengeistfeld (lit. field of the Holy Spirit) and the name was used for all fairs at this location.[3]

  • Winterdom or Dommarkt (winter fair or cathedral market): 30 days in late autumn
  • Sommerdom or Hummelfest (summer fair or Hummel market):[4] since 1947: 31 days during summer
  • Frühlingsdom (spring fair): since 1948, 30 days in spring

References
  1. The German term Dom (Italian: Duomo) is the synecdoche, used - pars pro toto - for most persisting or former collegiate churches and cathedrals alike. Therefore the uniform translation of this term into English as cathedral is correct in this case, but in many other cases it is inappropriate.
  2. http://www.hamburg-tourism.de/themen-touren/lifestyle-szene/hamburger-dom/
  3. Eckardt, Hans Wilhelm (2005). "Hamburger Dom". In Franklin Kopitzsch and Daniel Tilgner (ed.). Hamburg Lexikon (in German) (3 ed.). Ellert&Richter. p. 202. ISBN 3-8319-0179-1.
  4. Hummel is the name of an Hamburg original see Johann Wilhelm Bentz


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