Christmas in Mulhouse and Southern Alsace: markets and entertainment

Home > Christmas markets > The land of songs and fine fabrics

It's no surprise that this region in the south of Alsace places so much emphasis on fine fabrics. Once known as France's "little Manchester", Mulhouse was a leading French centre for the textile industries. This proud history began in 1746 when businessmen set up a factory to produce printed cotton. These famous painted fabrics featuring Far Eastern patterns quickly became a huge success for the town. This was followed by a growth in trade, with the importation of cotton from the Middle East and Louisiana, and the weaving of yarn in the Vosges valleys.

A marvellous reminder of the town's industrial past, fabrics can be admired here on the various Christmas markets, on the facades of Mulhouse cathedral and at the Museum of Printed Fabrics. But this land of fabric is also a land of Christmas songs, whose choirs, musical and instrumental groups, Christmas concerts and group singalongs will help you to dive headlong into the tradition of Christmas here in Alsace.