Michaelismesse

The origins of the Michaelismesse reach back to the year 1367. At the request of the Mainz archbishop Gerlach von Nassau, Emperor Charles IV granted the town of Miltenberg the right to hold an annual trade market on 6 January 1367. The market privilege mattered greatly to Miltenberg, which ranked among the wealthiest towns in the Mainz Oberstift in the late Middle Ages.

Originally the fair was held in high summer – in the period between the feast day of Saint Sixtus II on 7 August and the Assumption of Mary. Only in 1425 was it moved to Michaelmas on 29 September, and it has borne the name of the Archangel Michael ever since. Over the centuries an amusement section grew up alongside the exhibition of the tradespeople, and from it developed today's folk festival. A Michaelismesse, incidentally, is held not only in Miltenberg but – among other places – also every year in nearby Wertheim am Main.

For a long time the two local breweries, Faust and Kalt-Loch-Bräu, took turns each year in brewing the festival beer. After Kalt-Loch-Bräu ceased brewing operations in Miltenberg in March 2010, the festival beer has been supplied solely by the Faust brewery.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Michaelismesse was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 – for two years running the showmen did not gather on Miltenberg's riverbank. In 2021 the town at least permitted the festival tent to be put up, serving beer there under the hygiene rules in force. For the period from 24 August to 1 September 2024, a full Michaelismesse was planned once more, with festivities in the historic old town lasting into the night.