Hundreds attend Christmas tree lighting ceremony

Hundreds of people gathered on Prague’s Old Town Square on Saturday afternoon for the traditional Christmas tree lighting ceremony, marking the start of Advent and the opening of the city’s biggest Christmas market.

The lighting ceremony of the 22-metre tall spruce felled near Křivoklát, South Bohemia, was enhanced by a selection from Bedrich Smetana’s cycle of symphonic poems My Country. Visitors will find 99 stalls on Old Town Square and three Nativity scenes, one of which is live.

The Christmas market offers visitors a rich cultural program with some 700 performers appearing on stage in the course of the next three weeks.