Venetian Festival, Ludwigsburg, Germany

The photos below are from the 2001 Festival. Click on any photo to see an enlarged version.

The next festival will be held September 5-7, 2008. The parade is held Friday afternoon just before the festival opens and is free to the public. The streets get very crowded, so be sure to get there at least an hour before the parade starts. This is one of the best chances to see all the costumes at once. There are other opportunities to see some or all of the costumes, but they are in the market square, which is enclosed for the festival, where tickets are required for entry.

 

Bird dancer
Venetian couple
One of three bird-like dancers

Two of these dancers were on stilts, one on the ground. It was nearly impossible to capture in still photography the grace and beauty of these dancers, particularly as they interacted with each other.

Festival couple
 
Two musketeeters
Venetian reveler in gold face
Pink ladies
Two swash-buckling
monocyclists

These two happened to be passing by me and stopped to pose when they saw I had a camera.

Venetian Blue

Les Rokokettes en Rose

These women clearly are related to me or at the very least, we went to the same art school. The Rococco Coquettes are some of the few costumed artists who live in town.

French aerial dancer
Polidreck
Polidreck, side view
Aerial dancer

This is one of the members of a small French aerial dance group who flew and danced through the air, suspended above the crowd by a crane.

Polidreck

Just barely visible is the sign held by the man at right, which says "Polidreck". This is a combination of the words "Politik" and "Dreck" (crap).

Handy, Thron
(Signs held by revelers)

"Handy" (pronounced "hendy") was created by some German marketing genius' as the word for "cell phone". Thron simply means "throne". The wig is made from mop heads.

Venetian reveler in white face
Life-sized chess pieces
Rainbow contingent
Weeping lady
Life-sized chess pieces
Rainbow revelers
Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden detail
How the market looks otherwise

Garden of Eden

This temporary garden was set up in front of one of the churches at the market square.Sitting in the middle was quite surreal because you were totally surrounded by lush greenery and flowers, though in fact, none grew there.

Midst of the garden

 

Normal life at the market square

This is how the market square looks most of the time. Three times a week, it is transformed into a busy farmer's market and several times during the year, there are special markets or events, most of which set up and disappear in the matter of a few hours. The one time it is totally transformed for an extended period is during December, when the "Weihnachtsmarkt" (Christmas market) fills the entire square and surrounding area.

©2008 All rights reserved. All photos and text, copyright Joanne Moss Kuckuk.
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