Toy village Seiffen, a little town in the German Ore Mountains in Saxony is famous for its wooden toys and Christmas decorations such as Christmas pyramids, incense smokers, candle arches and nutcrackers.
Seiffen, located in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in the state of Saxony in Germany, is a centre of the wooden toy industry. The town is close to the Czech border, near Dresden in Germany.
The place is also popular for its several Christmas traditions. Wood carving, Nutcrackers, Christmas pyramids and Schwibbögen (wooden candle arches) are some of the Christmas goods that are made in the Ore Mountains.
The town of Seiffen attracts close to five hundred thousand visitors each year, who come to experience the several Christmas traditions (Incense smokers, nutcrackers and Christmas arches) of Seiffen.
People in Seiffen can hardly wait to setup the Christmas arches and pyramids that shine bright in the darkness during the winters. In Seiffen, Christmas decorations aren’t just setup, they are made here too. For the locals, its the crafted woodwork pieces from Seiffen make it feel like Christmas, year after year.
Toys have been produced in Seiffen since the mid-eighteenth century, and as always, great craftsmanship and attention to details goes into the making of these toys.
The recurring motives of these wooden toys are angels and miners. Tin-mining played a key role in the ore mountains (German: Erzgebirge) until the mid-nineteenth century; when the mines became empty, the miners took to making wooden toys, which is why most toys and the Christmas arches also reflect this past.
Another very popular motive in these local woodworking toys and pieces is the Church of Seiffen. The church here is quite famous making it a popular tourist attraction.
While COVID19 may have played a dampener for a little while, we hope that the lights from the toy-maker village of Seiffen will continue to shine all over the world year after year.
Richard Glaesser German Christmas Pyramid
Beautiful Christmas Pyramid featuring Santa, a toy truck full of gifts, a teddy bear, a house, and a conductor with a five piece toy train. This colorful pyramid (about 11 inches tall) has been hand handcrafted at the Richard Glaesser workshops in the Erzgebirge village of Seiffen, Germany.
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