20 Spectacular Christmas Trees Around The World, In Photos

From the “Most Famous” (a disputed title) to “the tallest,” the “prettiest” and the “most expensive,” big cities, small villages and towns of all sizes across the world take advantage of the season to brighten their look and mood with beautiful Christmas trees that rarely fail to spread the festive joy of the season.

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Christmas trees are among the traditions that withstand history’s upheavals and from New York and Paris to Rio de Janeiro, Beijing and Ukraine, cities and towns have gone the distance to present immense, luminous, creative trees to light up the night and kindle the warmth of the season in these trying times.

From the iconic Rockefeller Center’s luminous holiday tree to the world’s largest in Gubbio, Italy, to one of the most expensive Christmas trees ever, made of $5.5 million worth of gold bullion, here are some of the world’s most striking trees bringing a special ambience to the end of a troubled year globally.

Perhaps the most famous Christmas tree in the world and among the most expensive, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York is worth about $70,000. The tree is usually a Norway spruce, decorated with more than 700 lights and topped with a Swarovski star.

A “must-see” for visitors to the Big Apple in December, it’s lit Sundays to Wednesdays from 5 a.m. to midnight and until 1 a.m. from Thursdays to Saturdays. On Christmas Day, its lights will shine for 24 hours and on New Year’s Eve from 5 a.m. to to 9 p.m.

The tree will remain on view through mid-January.

This year’s tree was trucked from Massachusetts, the first since 1959 to hail from that state.

The Most Iconic, The Biggest, The Prettiest Christmas trees

Among the most iconic and visited in the world, the dazzling tree at the Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris is a tradition since 1976, and this year it’s particularly special because the store is celebrating its 130th anniversary.

It features 20,000 programmable lights and cutting-edge technology with fiber-optic-firework effect lighting, directly inspired by the dresses of designer Kevin Germanier.

There is a sound and light show every 30 minutes.

At the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican’s Christmas celebration is a traditional 21-day affair that runs from December 9 to January 7, and is a major attraction for holiday visitors.

The Christmas tree is installed at the center of Saint Peter’s Square, along with a life-size nativity scene.

The tradition of placing a Christmas tree and the nativity scene at the Vatican started in 1982, during the pontification of Pope John Paul II. That inaugural tree came from Italy and since then, every year a tree is donated by a different European country or region.

A 37-meter-high Christmas tree with more than 3,300 red balls at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid is the harbinger of the lavish decorations gracing the streets, including 6,600 luminous chains, 115 cherry trees, eleven large, illuminated fir trees and figurative nativity scenes at the entrances to the Plaza Mayor and at the historic gates of the city.

Among the many famous Christmas trees in England, Windsor Castle’s appears among the most iconic, maintaining a 1,000-year-old tradition.

This year’s is a 20-foot-high Nordmann Fir tree in St George’s Hall taken from Windsor Great Park and dressed with thousands of twinkling lights. It will be replanted in the Great Park once the display closes.

Breaking from the Eastern Orthodox tradition of the post-Soviet countries, for the second year in a row Ukraine celebrates the winter holidays starting December 6, St. Nicholas Day.

Ukraine’s main Christmas tree is installed in St. Sophia Square in the center of Kyiv and will stand through January 10.

This year, the 31-meter-tall tree and the decorations dedicated to the Christmas miracle were made possible privately by patrons, without government funds as the war with Russia continues. With that in mind, holidays in Kyiv will be held without mass gatherings, fairs and entertainment.

This is the 44th edition of the the World’s Biggest Christmas Tree installed on Mount Ingino in Gubbio, one of the most beautiful medieval towns in Europe, in the heart of the Umbria Region, central Italy.

The tree, which has been erected since 1981 and appears in the Guinness Book of Records, is a 2,000-foot-high display decorated on pine trees. The top of the tree reaches up to the peak of Basilica of the Patron Sant’Ubaldo, crowned with a bright white shooting star.

The Largest Floating Christmas Tree

The multicolored Christmas tree afloat on the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is known as the largest floating Christmas tree in the world, reaching a height of 278 feet (as of 2007, according to the Guinness Book of World Records).

This tradition began in 1996, alongside a dazzling firework display on the day the lights get switched on.

Every year, a different national forest is selected to provide a Christmas tree for installation on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol building for the holiday season.

A time-honored tradition celebrating 60 years, the tree is an 80-foot Sitka spruce from the Wrangell District Region in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest and is lit from dusk until 11 p.m. each evening through January 1.

The Strasbourg Christmas Market, France’s most popular market and that dates back to the mid-1500s, is one of the best-known in the world, imparting to the city the title of “Capital of Christmas” — and centered by a towering and luminous tree.

Located in Place Kléber, the 30-meter-high tree is decorated with seven kilometers of fairy lights and 400 baubles. (It also had 180 extra branches implanted to make it appear plumper.) In total, it takes around 120 man-hours to create the final look that makes it the tallest decorated Christmas tree in Europe.

The 22-meter-tree at the Old Town Square in magical, Christmas-enveloped Prague came from the Liberec region of Czechia. It’s dressed with giant Christmas stars, red and gold baubles and draped in a blaze of 110,000 LED lights. A spectacular sight set against the dark Gothic skyline.

Shanghai is well known worldwide for its iconic Christmas installations perfect for photo ops, and this year’s is among the most remarked on, a gingerbread-themed Dior tree, with life-like gingerbread figures and twirling skirts, a combination of the magic of Christmas with a touch of couture.

The Most Expensive Christmas tree

One of the most expensive Christmas trees ever, this one was crafted out of $5.5 million worth of bullion in Bavaria, Munich.

In cooperation with the Austrian Mint and produced by a German gold merchant, the gold tree, which consists of 2,024 Vienna Philharmonic coins, is almost three meters high. FYI, it’s not for sale and has a current value of around 5.3 million euros, depending on the price of gold as you read this.

The gold Christmas tree illustrates this timeless meaning of precious metal in an impressive way,” a spokesman for Pro Aurum, the creator of the tree explained.

The approximately 10-foot-tall tree was displayed at the bullion hawker’s headquarters in Munich for several days in honor of the company’s 35th anniversary.

Rising above 45 meters and crowned by a giant star of 17 meters in diameter, this walk-through tree offers light shows and music every hour from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and is accompanied by eight other trees of lights instead of hanging decoration.

“Christmas in Vilnius” is a highly anticipated annual event in Lithuania’s capital, lasting until Epiphany in January. The Vilnius Christmas Tree, a symbol of the celebration in Cathedral Square, has gained international recognition as one of the most beautiful in Europe.

This year’s natural tree is encased in a huge bubble-shaped construction structure that evokes a Christmas globe.

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