← Back to Current City

The Featured City and Annual Theme
The annual theme for each year's Market is a tradition that is unique to the Mifflinburg Christkindl Market. Each year's theme features a story or culturally significant icon from a selected city in Germany or Austria.

Cologne, Germany - 2021
This year, we feature the city of Cologne and the Three Kings from the Nativity story. Located on the Rhine River near Germany’s western border, the Romans founded the city in 50 A.D. on the site of an earlier Germanic tribal settlement. Cologne has been an important trade center from Medieval times until the present. Most of its Medieval buildings were destroyed in the World War II bombing of the city. Some areas of the city were restored or reconstructed including twelve Romanesque churches and the Gothic-Renaissance City Hall or Rathaus.

The Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom in German) is the city’s most famous landmark. Construction began on the cathedral in 1248 and wasn’t completed until 1880. It the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe and the tallest twin-spired church in the world. The cathedral was built to house the golden shrine purportedly containing the bones of the Magi or Three Kings, and became one of Europe’s most important pilgrimage sites. According to legend, the names of the kings were Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar. In homage to the Three Kings, the city’s coat of arms includes a shield which displays three crowns.

Join us for the 2021 Mifflinburg Christkindl Market as we celebrate the Christ Child, the Three Kings, and the City of Cologne.