This year, Aachen City Council will be closed from December 23, 2024 to January 1, 2025 inclusive.

The fire department, the public order and security service, the registry office for urgent certifications and the operational units of Aachen's municipal services, such as waste disposal, city cleaning, funeral services and winter services, are exempt from the closure.

Cultural events will be available as usual
The museums, including the town hall, the municipal theater and the Eurogress will remain open. The specific opening hours of these municipal facilities can be found at aachen.de.

City Library
The Central Library will close from December 23, 2024 to January 1, 2025 inclusive. Lending and returns will not be available during this period. From Thursday, January 2, 2025, it will be open again with the regular opening hours from 12 noon to 7 p.m.
The Haaren District Library will be closed from December 23, 2024 up to and including January 6, 2025.
The Depot District Library will be closed from December 23 up to and including January 1, 2025. The library will reopen at the usual times on January 2, 2025.
The book bus will not make any stops between December 23, 2024 and January 6, 2025.
The branches will also close between Christmas and New Year. Here are the exact closing times of the branches at a glance:
Bildchen: December 23, 2024 up to and including January 6, 2025
Kornelimünster: December 24, 2024 up to and including January 2, 2025
Oberforstbach: December 24, 2024 up to and including January 1, 2025
Walheim: December 23, 2024 up to and including January 5, 2025
The libraries will be open again at their regular times after the closure.

Indoor swimming pools
Aachen's indoor swimming pools also have changed opening hours during this period:
The Elisabethhalle, the Brand indoor swimming pool and the Ulla-Klinger-Halle are closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
The Schwimmhalle Süd is open on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve from 7 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and on Boxing Day and New Year's Day from 10.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. The South Swimming Pool is closed on Christmas Day.
The East Pool is open on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve from 8 am to 1.30 pm. The East Hall will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
All the latest news about swimming halls and sports can be found at www.aachen.de/sport.

Sports, gymnastics and gymnastics halls
All halls will be closed throughout the Christmas vacations from Saturday, December 21, 2024, up to and including Monday, January 6, 2025. This also applies to halls in which key authority has been transferred to the users.
The Christmas vacations are the only vacations in which "key authority halls" cannot be used. On the one hand, this saves high energy costs, on the other hand, these vacations are used for the annual basic cleaning of school sports facilities.

Citizens' services close, Servicecenter Call Aachen remains accessible
Citizens can still make use of municipal services in urgent matters, as some departments and companies affected by the shutdown have set up emergency services and on-call services. The Citizens' Service Aachen-Mitte (administration building Bahnhofplatz, Hackländerstraße 1) is available for urgent ID and passport matters in particular. Please make an appointment online or by telephone for all matters. An emergency service is also available at the insurance office for urgent questions about pension insurance.

In emergencies, the Call Aachen service center can help on 0241 432-0. It will continue to be manned from Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. between the years. The city's fault clearance service can also be contacted around the clock over the holidays and between the years on 0241 432-18999.

The City of Aachen recommends that citizens plan their service requirements accordingly. The Service Center is available for general questions, for example about required documents. Appointments for the new year can also be booked by calling 0241 432-1234.

Digital services offered by the administration
Independently of this, the city offers numerous online services provided by the administration. The Service Center can also answer questions about these online services if required. An overview can be found at www.aachen.de/onlinedienste. Another popular service is the City of Aachen's digital defect report (maengelmelder.aachen.de). General information on municipal services can also be found on the City of Aachen's service portal at serviceportal.aachen.de.

Emptying the "time-sensitiveletterbox"
The administration ensures that the "time-sensitive letterbox" at the Bahnhofplatz administration building, Hackländerstraße 1, is emptied for documents for which statutory or formal deadlines must be met. Mail can also be handed in at the gate during opening hours. Colleagues will record incoming mail accordingly.

From Thursday, January 2, 2025, all municipal departments and businesses will offer their services again without restriction.