Christmas Nativity Scene Exhibition

Haguenau, the birthplace of nativity scenes

Haguenau is known as the "cradle of nativity scenes". Every year, the city hosts nativity scenes from all over the world, each more amazing than the last.
For this edition, we are pleased to welcome the PLAYMOBIL nativity scene (visible for the first time in France), the Old Paris nativity scene, as well as the Haguenau nativity scene.

These three nativity scenes will be on display under a marquee, on the Cours de la Décapole, throughout the duration of the Christmas Market, at the following times:
Monday to Friday from 14:00 am to 19:00 pm
From Saturday to Sunday, 10:00 AM to 19:00 PM
December 24th from 2pm to 4pm - Exhibition closed on December 25th

The Playmobil nursery: An adventure born in Switzerland
The story of this fabulous PLAYMOBIL nativity scene begins ten years ago in a small mountain village in Switzerland. Its creator, Casimir Gabioud, a PLAYMOBIL enthusiast since childhood, offered to create a small nativity scene of 2 to 3 square meters for Christmas in his village church.
The success was immediate! Given the enthusiasm of the visitors, the experience was repeated the following year with an even larger nativity scene.

Requests quickly poured in for the nativity scene to travel: it first toured the canton of Valais for five years, continuing to expand. Then, it took on a new dimension, reaching its current size of 25 m², with nearly 1,000 figures and 1,300 animals. For the past three years, it has been presented in various cantons of French-speaking Switzerland, meeting with the same success everywhere.

The PLAYMOBIL nursery in figures
Area: 25 m²
Figurines: 2,300 characters and animals
Number of dioramas: 5 (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the desert, the lake and the pastures)
Parabolas represented: 10

The entire world of this nativity scene has been designed to remain as close as possible to life as it might have been 2,000 years ago. It reveals not only the essential locations of Jesus' birth, but also all the figures who contributed, each in their own way, to this unique event.

The nativity scene of old Paris
This year, Haguenau is hosting an exceptional work from the Paul Chaland Collection, one of the world's greatest collectors of nativity scenes. After assembling more than 600 nativity scenes from five continents, he dedicated his passion to creating true "nativity-theatre" scenes, including the famous Medieval Nativity Scene.

Presented for the first time in Paris in 1991, on the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, this monumental nativity scene measured 18 meters long and 6 meters deep, with a sound, light and automaton show.

Inspired by the era of cathedrals, Paul Chaland and his team envisioned the Nativity in a medieval setting, dominated by Notre-Dame de Paris, a powerful and timeless symbol. Three workshops of artisans – designers, carpenters, sculptors, seamstresses, and mechanics – worked for two years to bring it to life.

The cathedral, painted in a russet ochre inspired by historical research, has become so iconic that Disney studios used it as inspiration for the film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).

More than 250 characters represent the small trades of 15th century Paris, some animated thanks to an ingenious system of automata.
A total work of art, where history, tradition and wonder meet to revive the magic of the Middle Ages.

The Haguenau nursery
A register kept in the Municipal Archives mentions a nativity scene at the Saint-Georges church in 1420; this is the oldest trace of the existence of a nativity scene in Haguenau and probably in Alsace.
To mark its 600th anniversary in 2020, potter Vincent Remmy from Betschdorf created a nativity scene using clay taken from the Haguenau forest.
Each year new characters continue to enrich this nativity scene, specially created for our city!