Springfest: Biggest Flea Market in Germany. Part 1

It takes place only once a year and is timed to the Springfest. It attracts sellers not only from all over Germany, but also from neighboring states like Austria, France and Italy. There are many antiques, and you can even find things of museum level. Here you can walk 10 hours (as long as the market) and not to get around all of the tables, it is that huge. Here you can find anything and meet anyone. Welcome to Munich, Germany's largest annual flea market (and often referred to as Europe's largest annual market).

Everyone knows the Bavarian tradition of Oktoberfest — autumn beer festival, which annually attracts more than 2 million people from around the world. However, there is another tradition — Springfest — which starts with a very large flea market and is held on the same Theresienwiese, as the Oktoberfest is.

This year the holiday is on April 27 and my family was there traditionally and walked through the rows of antiques and vintage things almost 8 hours. I want to invite readers of Livemaster to this bright walk to the past, show and tell about the most entertaining things.

Welcome to the biggest flea market! It is like this...

The flea market is held in any weather and this time the weather decided to be naughty and substituted +25 degrees Celsius weather for torrential rain on Saturday morning. Beautiful old glasses, exhibited on the tables, got filled with rain literally in an hour, the rain was that heavy. But if you think that it scared off sellers or buyers, then I want to prove you wrong — no and no. Many wait for this market, many come from other countries, and sellers took a good place for another day, so despite the pouring rain, everybody kept their positions :) By the way, the weather got better by dinner, and the tables with crystal sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow, and attracted many people.

Let's go see all sorts of interesting things and listen to stories...
As always: tables of antique things are usually covered with a velvet cloth as antique porcelain looks better on it. For particularly expensive figurines, the sellers place mirrors under them, some of antiquaries stand in beautiful racks...

At this market, the tables are always full, cluttered with figurines for every taste, you get lost because of the wide range of things. Here, for example, the famous figures of children based on the works of nun Bertha Hummel are presented.

There are tables on which only crystal or antique glass stand, there are tables with brass and silver... There are always a lot of collectors.

A lot of families come here once a year to sell useless things. On these tables or just on the ground you can often find something interesting, as a grandmother's set is next to modern dishes, and old embroidered tablecloths handmade are mixed with unnecessary clothes already. Here it is worth looking for something interesting, as these sellers have the most reasonable prices. Moreover, rain decreases prices on wet articles: clothing, home textiles, board games, books and magazines. But antiques prices fall rare. Antique dealers are very well prepared for all the vagaries of the weather and their tables are under folding canopies. Though you can find anything there.

This time there was a lot of furniture of the 1950-70s. German furniture of this period is beautiful and is of good-quality. It is real wood, often carved, and on upholstered furniture you can see beautiful tapestry inserts or even embroidery. A separate topic is Bavarian folk painted furniture.

As always there were a lot of hand-painted antiques, for example, here is a pre-war cup, but alas! Such things usually have chips and cracks.

Porcelain colander for berries, with stand. A beautiful thing to wash fruits and berries and put on the table, but also with losses.

There were many old strollers, cradles, cots.

Of course, vintage miniature. Usually in such large-scale markets you can meet collectors of miniatures, whole tables are devoted to this topic and there is everything from furniture and tiny chandeliers that work from batteries. To all sorts of dishes: miniature porcelain sets, pots and pans, baking dish, cutlery. Here are usually sold small dolls both of pre-war and post-war periods. Clients of these tables are not little girls. But girls in their 30ies and 40ies... :))

This bright table says hello from the 1970s, here all this period is presented from tablecloths to dishes and decor.

Here is a photo album, which is more than 100 years old and its cover is made of wood with intarsia...

Of course, porcelain tableware... 2/3 of the porcelain factories in Germany of the last century and the century before were located in Bavaria, so Munich is always full of beautiful porcelain. At such a mega-flea market, there are many things for every taste and purse...

Thank you for your attention, I would appreciate likes and reposts. To be continued.:)