Photo Gallery Counting Towards Christmas
An unusual Advent calendar can currently be seen in Hamburg, created by anti-gentification activists who want to draw attention to vacant properites in the city. Here, activists decorate the door of the empty Millerntorwache building in the city's St. Pauli neighborhood.
Along with tinsel, the Christmas decorators posted large red dots, each emblazoned with a number, from 1 to 24, on the front doors of unused and derelict buildings around Hamburg. In this case, the building is an old industrial property.
Every day, one vacant building will be presented on the website of the Hamburg-based activist group Komm in die Gänge. Here, a 1930s villa with a view of the Alster river that has been left empty.
Number 11 in the calendar is a municipal building that has stood partially empty for over 10 years.
The activists' website indicates vacant and unused buildings in the city and surroundings. The numbered doors "make a symbolic demand to finally be opened up again," a press release from the group says. Here, a former hotel in the St. Pauli district.
The activists argue that while affordable apartments and workspaces are hard to find in Hamburg, around 1.2 million square meters of office and industrial space stands empty. This building was supposed to be redeveloped but has stood empty for years.
In making their giant Advent calendar and the website, the activists say that they want to "help develop and exchange constructive ideas on how to deal with the vacant properties," such as this former restaurant, also in St. Pauli.
Rather than helping developers serve the needs of higher earners, the group wants to see affordable space developed for creative and social uses. This building is a former tax office in Hamburg-Altona.
The activists are based in Hamburg's Gängeviertel neighborhood and have had success with their protests in the past.
With its life-sized doors, the Advent calendar is potentially the largest in the country. Sadly there are no gigantic chocolate Santa Clauses behind these doors.
