59 years of the Old Town Flea Market on the Hohe Ufer

History

For 59 years, the Hannover Old Town Flea Market has been inviting visitors every Saturday to stroll, browse, and haggle in the Old Town.

For 59 years, the Hanover Flea Market has been inviting visitors every Saturday to stroll, browse, and haggle in the Old Town. “Am Hohen Ufer”—between Schlossstraße and Goethestraße—numerous vendors showcase their diverse selection at the Old Town Flea Market. New and mass-produced goods are not sold here. Art and kitsch, bric-a-brac and odds and ends are what visitors can expect at the flea market on the banks of the Leine. Here you’ll find not only entire chests from grandmother’s day, but also paintings, jewelry, medals, and rugs, fine glassware, comic books, records, CDs, toys, and tools.

April 8, 1967, is considered the birth of the Old Town Flea Market in Hanover. Performance artist Reinhard Schamuhn brought the idea to Hanover, modeled after the "marché aux puces" in Paris, and set up the first flea market at the Holzmarkt around the Oskar-Winter Fountain.

The Old Town Flea Market was marked by a very special “christening”: Right on time at 4:00 p.m., as the flea market began, Shamuhn poured a bottle of water from the Seine into the Leine. At the same time, a bottle of water from the Leine was poured into the Seine in Paris.

It was not until 1972 that the flea market was relocated to its current location on the Hohe Ufer by Michael Gehrke, the then "town image manager". It was also Gehrke who established the weekly rhythm of the Old Town flea market.

Whether you're a buyer or a seller—why not come check out the lively atmosphere at the Hanover flea market in the Old Town on the banks of the Leine!