Erfurt (dpa/th) - According to the State Chancellery, around 185,000 people attended the three-day public festival and the celebration of 32 years of German unity in Erfurt. After a slow start due to rain and wind last Saturday, the number of visitors has increased from day to day, said a spokesman for the State Chancellery on Tuesday in Erfurt. Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) and Erfurt's Lord Mayor Andreas Bausewein (SPD) had spent 120,000 visitors for the three-day celebrations as a benchmark. The preparations for the celebrations ran for months in the state and city.

During the civic festival there had been live music and performances by bands and orchestras throughout the city. Some historical buildings were illuminated by artists with lasers in the evening. All 16 federal states as well as the Federal Government, Bundestag, Bundesrat and Federal Constitutional Court were represented with their own pavilions and various information and entertainment offers.