The Gdańsk Christmas Market 2023 is now history. From 24 November to 23 December we celebrated Christmas beautifully in Gdańsk, and this was noticed not only in Poland. It was a period full of new features at the Market, and visitors appreciated, among other things, the flavours of the Market, as confirmed by 40% more receipts issued by food and drink exhibitors compared with last year. We already invite you to the Christmas Market 2024.
As every year, the Christmas Market lit up the pre-Christmas period in Gdańsk. Targ Węglowy, ul. Tkacka and ul. Bogusławskiego, Zbrojownia and Zespół Przedbramia, with their magical setting, created a wonderful mood that could be felt in every corner of the Market. The atmosphere was created by the exhibitors, the visitors, a rich cultural programme and 20 light figures – part of the Let’s Light Up Christmas campaign, which until 2 February 2024 lights up the city in 13 locations in Gdańsk with 160 light figures.
Recognition of quality products
This year’s Christmas Market drew people in with its magic every day. We are still waiting for the official statistics on the number of people who visited the Market over the four weeks, but the exhibitors themselves say that footfall was higher. This is visible in the statistics of receipts issued by the food and drink part of the Gdańsk Christmas Market. There were about 40% more of them than a year ago. As can be seen, visitors appreciated, among other things, the quality products that dominated the Market chalets. Visitors drank hot drinks from more than 155,000 Market mugs.
In the food and drink zone, the hits of the Market were langos. Food lovers also appreciated Kashubian smoked fish and fish preserves, honeys and gingerbread, as well as raclette. Among the sweet treats, cinnamon rolls reigned, as did, traditionally, hot chocolate, loved by children.
This year’s edition of the Market in Zbrojownia was a wonderful alternative for people who value unique gifts. A new feature was the stalls of Polish fashion designers, where original cuts attracted not only women but also men. Natural, handmade candles, ceramics and Christmas decorations by local workshops enjoyed enormous popularity.
The Market was honoured by the presence of people from all over the world, and apart from Poles, residents of the following countries predominated: the United States, Spain, Italy, England, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Germany.
Visitors to the Market drew inspiration from more than 80 handicraft stalls and tasted flavours of 17 world cuisines at more than 60 stalls. The Market supports local entrepreneurs, and this shows among the exhibitors – as many as 99 came from the Pomeranian Voivodeship, including 52 from Gdańsk.
New at the Market
This year’s Market was full of new features. Even before the event started, a completely refreshed website was created bozonarodzeniowy.pl. The statistics show that visitors positively loved it
– more than 60% more people visited it than during last year’s edition. The year-on-year increase
of almost 160% was recorded for visits by users from abroad. Apart from the countries listed above, which strongly influenced the results, the site also received guests from exotic places such as East Timor, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Mauritius.
Among the new features of the Christmas Market, a Christmas Treasury of Ideas was set up in Zbrojownia, featuring gift inspirations. They were placed there by the exhibitors from Zbrojownia, and visitors voted for the most beautiful or most practical gift. The greatest recognition went to the leather wallet by Vericone.
For the first time, the Christmas Market Grand Prix awards were presented, honouring exhibitors in the categories Good Idea and Good Taste. The Grand Prix in the first category went to Glassware Art Studio Przemysław Huras for making, by a traditional method, glass-blown
and hand-painted baubles. Honourable mentions went to Bartłomiej Siedlikowski
for fruit and Christmas scented decorations and to Ivan Korchevny for hand-painted lanterns. In the Good Taste category, the Grand Prix went to MANAT Mirosław Liss for Kashubian fish delicacies. Honourable mentions went to: Pszczelarska Wyspa Alina Bylicka for honey products and Robert Kaczkan for game-based food products.
The winners in both Grand Prix categories received, among other things, vouchers worth PLN 3000 towards a stall at next year’s Christmas Market.
In Zespół Przedbramia, which was also new to the Market because for the first time it was included in the event in its entirety, a toy swap campaign – toycrossing – took place. In Zbrojownia, it was possible to swap books.
The Market for Śródmieście campaign also made its debut: a special day for those who hosted the Gdańsk Christmas Market for four weeks. The most popular were the State Forests workshops, where participants made green Christmas arrangements.
For the first time, the organisers prepared a dedicated Christmas offer for children from Gdańsk primary schools, “A Christmas Adventure at the Christmas Market”. In Santa’s Workshop, more than 300 children, under the care of elf hosts, met Santa Claus, took part in workshops
and enjoyed the attractions in the AmberSky Christmas Travel Corner.
The organisers also began cooperation with the Museum of Gdańsk, which ran a history lesson in Zbrojownia, and with Gdańsk Zoo, thanks to which Market visitors could make lynx-shaped Christmas tree decorations and support the campaign “Pics without a wild cat”.
Returning to the AmberSky Christmas Travel Corner, a spinning coaster called Spinning Barrels appeared there for the first time in the history of the event. The Gdańsk Carousel, made this year in an Italian workshop, was also there. The Corner also featured Santa’s sleigh
– a VR journey – and the Observation Wheel. All the attractions were also very popular.
The Market for charity
For years, visitors to the Gdańsk Christmas Market have been able to join charity campaigns supporting the Fundacja Hospicyjna. Apart from volunteers collecting donations for the Foundation, help was also given in other ways. Grupa GPEC, together with AMBEREXPO, raised funds in an original, Christmassy way.
In the winter chalet of Grupa GPEC, you could buy tickets entitling you to switch on “The Magic of Christmas” (Insta spot) at the push of a single button. The proceeds from the tickets will be donated to the people in the Foundation’s care.
The Foundation was also “encouraged” by the plush toys from the Teddy Bear Gate, which for three weeks of the Market decorated the entrance to Santa’s Workshop in Zbrojownia and then, after 500 bears had been given out, went to the chalet of the Gdańska Organizacja Turystyczna, where a plush toy was given with the purchase of two Market mugs. Also traditionally, part of the proceeds from the sale of Market mugs will go to the Foundation’s account. More than 5000 Market mugs were sold during the Market. The total amount raised during the Market’s campaigns for the Fundacja Hospicyjna is currently more than PLN 55,000, although we are still waiting for the final figures.
Charity campaigns were also held in Zbrojownia. “Give a Future – Foster Care in Gdańsk”
– is a campaign promoting adoption and support for foster families. In addition, a local integration centre for people with intellectual disabilities ran two days of workshops where salt dough decorations were made and the art of decoupage was taught. The workshops were attended by people in the centre’s care, who presented various handicrafts. They could be bought as a charity donation supporting the centre in its day-to-day running
Helping those most in need is also a tradition of the Market. At the end of the Market, in cooperation with the Miejski Ośrodek Pomocy Rodzinie w Gdańsku, a person was selected to whom the Market’s organiser, Międzynarodowe Targi Gdańskie, donated a rehabilitation bed essential for daily functioning and basic necessities.
Immediately after the end of the Christmas Market, a Christmas Eve dinner for people in need was held in Zbrojownia, on the initiative of the Polska Izba Gospodarcza Restauratorów i Hotelarzy and the Duszpasterstwo Akademickie “Górka”, which operates at the Dominican church of St Nicholas. AMBEREXPO, the organiser of the Market, rented the space for this special time and provided organisational support to help this noble cause.
The Gdańsk Christmas Market was the talk of the town
Last year’s success and second place in the European Best Christmas Markets 2023 poll made the Gdańsk event even better known on the Old Continent and beyond. It appeared in social media practically non-stop. It featured on Italian websites, including thanks to travel.thewom.it, appeared in a National Geographic article, while the French travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler called Gdańsk a “Fairytale City” – also because of the Gdańsk Christmas Market – and included it among the 32 best places to spend Christmas and the period around it. It is distinguished company, including cities such as Berlin, London, Paris, Rome, Copenhagen or, further away, New York, Hong Kong and Dubai.
More than 200 posts appeared on the Market’s social media, which built the atmosphere of the event superbly and reached 1.5 million people. The Christmas town in Gdańsk was not overlooked by influencers, mainly those connected with food and drink. In the traditional media, the Market featured both
in live programmes on TVN24 and Polsat News and in 6.4 thousand other media publications.
In total, thanks to the media, information about the Gdańsk Christmas Market was displayed more than 1.7 billion times.
A rich artistic programme
Attractions connected with the artistic programme were very popular every day. The biggest hit was, of course, the visits of Santa, who appeared in the Christmas town in Gdańsk as many as 15 times. In total, the daily programme included 141 items, including concerts, theatre performances, Christmas dance parties and karaoke. Genre scenes were performed by Garnizon Gdański, and nationally known stars also appeared on stage, such as Dorota Kolak – who read fairy tales to the Market’s guests and invited them to the Wybrzeże Theatre – and Joanna Jabłczyńska.
Visitors to the Market could listen to carillon concerts and also admire performances by Zespół Pieśni
i Tańca Gdańsk. The Chór Gdańskiego Uniwersytetu Medycznego made an impressive showing, although the audience was warmed up most by the performance of the group Słowiańska Dusza, which combined the Christmas repertoire of Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. At the end, the group performed the beautiful song “Nie ma miasta jak Gdańsk”.
The programme also included the Writing Gdańsk Postcards campaign, organised by the City of Gdańsk and Kreatywna Pedagogika. Free workshops took place in Zbrojownia.
For the duration of the Market, the streets of Gdańsk’s historic centre, thanks to beautiful illuminations, will turn
into a Christmas town. This is partly thanks to the Strategic Partner of the Christmas Market and Gdańsk Illuminations – Gdańskie Wodociągi.
The supporting partner of the Gdańsk Christmas Market is Grupa GPEC – sponsor of the Gdańsk Illuminations.
We are pleased to announce that the MTG operations team, in a record time of three days, completed the dismantling of the Market infrastructure on 29 December 2023, and the site has been restored to its original functions.
The organisers already invite you to the Gdańsk Christmas Market in 2024.
