Hamburger Dom

A red lighted sign with the word Dom and a lighted Ferris wheel in the background.
Entrance of Hamburger Dom at night in 2008.

The Hamburger Dom[1] is a large fair held at the 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.[citation needed] It is also referred to as a Volksfest (beer festival and travelling funfair). The Hamburger Dom is also one of the well known festivals in the Hamburg metropolitan area.

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.

On the Winterdom 2021 was a laser-show set up for the first time. [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

On 14 August 1981, a crane collided with the Skylab carousel at the fair, killing seven and injuring fifteen.[5][6]

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. ^ "Hamburger DOM – Norddeutschlands größter Jahrmarkt | Hamburg Tourismus".
  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
  5. ^ Germany, SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg (26 June 2009). "Life Is a Rollercoaster: The Downfall of a Funfair Family". Spiegel Online. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "14.08.1981: Der Tag, an dem der Dom zur Todesfalle wurde". MOPO.de (in German). Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2021.

53°33′14″N 9°58′15″E / 53.55389°N 9.97083°E / 53.55389; 9.97083