Spruce from Ebenau

The Christmas tree on Residenzplatz is already up

The tree at its destination: Salzburg's Residenzplatz.(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

From a well-grown tree from a private garden to a photo motif in the middle of the city: the 25-metre-high spruce for the anniversary Christmas market (50th edition this year) comes from Ebenau. It was harvested on Monday and positioned on Residenzplatz. 

We were looking for a particularly beautiful tree for the 50th anniversary of the Christmas market," explains chairman Wolfgang Haider. Over the years, he has developed a good eye for evenly grown coniferous specimens.

Ideal Christmas tree not from the forest
He found what he was looking for in Ebenau: the spruce for the anniversary edition is 25 meters tall and weighs around six tons. The trunk has around 70 annual rings. "Ideally, a Christmas tree doesn't come from the forest, but grows freely," says Haider, who contacted landowner and baker Josef Schöndorfer and Mayor Johannes Fürstaller. With a wink: "We are happy to help the town."

The transport was a challenge: centimeter work on the bends(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

On Monday, a team from Salzburg's gardening department and the professional fire department moved out and carefully harvested the tree using a crane. A Christmas tree is not felled in order to avoid damage. The "special transport" then took on even the tightest of bends on the way to Residenzplatz. And the beautifully grown Christmas tree was also positioned straight away. Haider: "Now the pre-Christmas atmosphere is really starting." The tree will be brightly lit with 700 LED lights for the first time at the opening on November 21.