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Holiday homes competition - 24th December 2021

These gingerbread houses are a Swedish Christmas tradition. Families often build the houses together.

Every year, Sweden holds a gingerbread house competition. It’s organised by ArkDes, the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design. This year’s theme is “together”.

The competition also helps people to learn about architecture. Sara Sandell teaches at the museum.

Sara Sandell: "Architecture can feels a bit advanced and hard for people, but everybody have a relation to, to houses and architecture. So it, I think, gingerbread houses is a way to, to make it fun. And it’s a tradition that a lot of people do yearly at home, they bake together, family and friends. So this is a way to do it in a, in a grander scale."

People in Sweden started making gingerbread houses in the 19th century. The fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, which was written by the Brothers Grimm, probably gave people the original idea.

The competition rules say that you have to be able to eat every part of the house. This makes people think about materials.

Sara Sandell: "A lot of things go into baking. The, it’s planning and thinking ahead how you want pieces, materials, how they work together. So it’s a lot of things that, that, that goes with architecture in the design but also it’s, it’s fun, and everybody loves gingerbreads houses, right."

There are several prize categories. There’s one for architects, designers and bakers, and one for under 12 year olds. There’s also a prize for home bakers, and the public choose their favourite. This winner is voted for by visitors to the museum.

Which will you choose?