Chemnitz, Germany

Chemnitz represents two things to me; the love of trying out new exotic experiences, and my amateur fascination with the history of architecture. My first time in Chemnitz lasted just a few hours, but was enough to give me a comprehensive overview of the city’s history.

I did the trip properly during Christmas by taking a special departure from Berlin to Dresden in a steam locomotive taken out from a railway museum, then changing onto the first electric locomotive in Germany for the remainder of the trip to Chemnitz. The trip took twice as long as by ICE, but the experience was worth every second of it.

Known during the East German period as Karl-Marx City, the history of the town is apparent with a walk down Strasse der Nationen from Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof to the Altes Rathaus. The first landmark along the way would be the Chemnitz Opera House. The square in front of the opera house is surrounded by buildings from across the 20th century. Though the art gallery and the opera house were built in the 1900’s, it is flanked by the Café Moskau and the Chamber of Commerce built in post-war international style by the Soviets.

At the end of the very same block stands the Karl-Marx-Monument, in front of an 8-storey high plaque inscribed with German and Russian propaganda phrases. The corner on the next block of the perpendicular street has a building in streamline moderne style that now houses the State Museum for Archeology.

Right opposite the Karl-Marx-Monument is a peculiar plaza with octagonal structures. Not only is the park and its water features octagonal, but the Stadthalle and the adjoining restaurant adjacent to the plaza is also completely composed of octagons. The hotel tower behind the Stadthalle is angled away from the plaza, parallel with its octagonal lines of reference. Perhaps the only thing that existed before the war in this intersection is the 13th century Roter Turm, which is only popular with locals because of a faux Art Deco shopping mall named after it located just 30 meters away, trying hard to fit in.

After the awkward transition from new to old through the air-conditioned shopping mall, the 15th century Altes Rathaus forms the centre of the historic town centre when you emerged on the other side of the revolving glass doors. During Christmas, all ten blocks of the historic downtown area are closed off to traffic to form Germany’s most charming Weinachtsmarkt.

Very few tourism ads nowadays actually deliver on their promises, and Chemnitz is one of them. Read the ad and see it in real life, the actual Christmas market is even better than on billboards shown in München Hauptbahnhof. Big burly men make wooden carvings out of chainsaws and women dressed in traditional clothing hawk their traditional foods from all over Eastern Europe.

If you’ve never had fried cheese from Slovakia, genuine German butter stollen, or authentic Bockwurst with bread, it’s never too late to make a trip to Chemnitz next Christmas.

Chemnitz: Better than advertised.