Frankfurt Essentials: History, Finance & Soul

Alte Oper Frankfurt 2019 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 deWikimedia Commons

Alte Oper Frankfurt am Main 2012 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Felix König / Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0Wikipedia EN (Alte Oper)

FFM-AlteOper-HDR--DINA4 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Markus schüller / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Wikipedia EN (Alte Oper)

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We're standing before one of the most beautiful Renaissance palaces north of the Alps – or at least that's what it looks like. The Alte Oper, opened in 1880, was Frankfurt's answer to the great opera houses of Europe. But here's what makes it special: this magnificent building wasn't constructed by princes, but by Fran…

Bulle und Bär Frankfurt | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Eva K. / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5Wikipedia RU (Bulle und Bär (Frankfurt am Main))

Datei:Francfort-Frankfurt Main8592 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Diego Delso / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Wikipedia RU (Bulle und Bär (Frankfurt am Main))

Before you stand two bronze giants: a bull, powerfully rearing up, muscles tensed, ready to charge – and a bear, crouching low, paws firmly planted on the ground. Sculptor Reinhard Dachlauer created them in 1985, and since October 6, 1988, they've stood guard over the Börsenplatz. But why these two animals in particula…

Frankfurt Am Main-Goethe-Haus-Ansicht am Grossen Hirschgraben | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Mylius / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0Wikipedia DE (Goethe House)

File:Giebel des Goethe-Hauses in Frankfurt am Main | 🔗 wikimedia.org

Photo: Munin2005 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0Wikimedia Commons

File:Goethe-Haus in Frankfurt am Main | 🔗 wikimedia.org

Photo: Munin2005 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0Wikimedia Commons

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On August 28, 1749, a child was born in this house who would change the German language forever. Johann Wolfgang Goethe came into the world here, in his parents' house on Großen Hirschgraben. What you see before you is an almost perfect reconstruction – the original was destroyed by bombs in 1944, but the people of Fra…

Frankfurt Paulskirche außen 2011a | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Andreas Praefcke / Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0Wikipedia EN (St. Paul's Church, Frankfurt am Main)

Die Gartenlaube (1898) b 0301 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: various / Wikipedia, Public domainWikipedia EN (St. Paul's Church, Frankfurt am Main)

Frankfurt Am Main-Paulskirche-Ansicht vom Maintower | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Mylius / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0Wikipedia EN (St. Paul's Church, Frankfurt am Main)

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Before us stands a round, neoclassical building made of red sandstone – simple, almost austere. The Paulskirche doesn't look like a place of revolution, but that's exactly what it was. On May 18, 1848, 585 delegates assembled here for the first freely elected German National Assembly. For the first time in German histo…

Roemerberg Panorama Juni 2009 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Eva K. / Wikipedia, GFDL 1.2Wikipedia RU (Römerberg (Frankfurt am Main))

Datei:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F003822-0008, Frankfurt-Main, Evangelischer Kirchentag | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Steiner, Egon / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 deWikipedia RU (Römerberg (Frankfurt am Main))

Datei:Carl Friedrich Mylius Römerberg Frankfurt 1859 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Carl Friedrich Mylius / Wikipedia, Public domainWikipedia RU (Römerberg (Frankfurt am Main))

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Here we stand in the heart of Frankfurt – not in the geographical sense, but in the emotional one. The Römerberg has been Frankfurt's parlor for over 600 years, and that building with the three gables over there, the Römer, has been our city hall since 1405. Six centuries of continuous use – there's nothing else like i…

Frankfurt Am Main-St Bartholomaeus-Ansicht vom Nextower-20110812 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Mylius / Wikipedia, GFDL 1.2Wikipedia RU (Frankfurt Cathedral)

Frankfurt Am Main-Altstadt-Zerstoerung-Luftbild 1944 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author / Wikipedia, Public domainWikipedia RU (Frankfurt Cathedral)

Frankfurt Am Main-H Worms-Stadtansicht vom Muehlberg | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: H. Worms / Wikipedia, Public domainWikipedia RU (Frankfurt Cathedral)

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Before us stands the Kaiserdom St. Bartholomäus, and its reddish sandstone facade alone tells of centuries past. The Gothic tower rises ninety-five meters into the sky – begun in the fifteenth century, completed in the nineteenth. But what truly makes this cathedral special isn't its architecture, but rather what happe…

DomRömerAreal Frankfurt Domblick 04-18 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Silesia711 / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Wikipedia DE (New Frankfurt Old Town)

Blick vom Domturm Dom Roemer Projekt April 2017 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Daviidos / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Wikipedia RU (New Frankfurt Old Town)

Dom-Roemer-Stadthaus-am-Markt-Projekt-06-2014-Ffm-214 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Simsalabimbam / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0Wikipedia RU (New Frankfurt Old Town)

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Between 2012 and 2018, something happened here that is unique in Germany: Frankfurt reconstructed its medieval center on 7,000 square meters – not restored, but actually built anew. 35 buildings were created, 15 of them based on historical models that disappeared in a single night in March 1944. Take a look at the Haus…

Frankfurt Am Main-Eiserner Steg-Ansicht vom Domturm-20101024 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Mylius / Wikipedia, GFDL 1.2Wikipedia RU (Eiserner Steg (Frankfurt am Main))

Frankfurt 01 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Janusz Recław / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Wikipedia EN (Eiserner Steg)

Datei:EisernerStegGerber.jpeg | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: S.Wetzel (unterwegs und Brücken) / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0Wikipedia RU (Eiserner Steg (Frankfurt am Main))

Here we stand on Frankfurt's oldest pedestrian bridge, the Eiserner Steg from 1868. The narrow iron construction you feel beneath your feet was reinforced in 1912 and faithfully reconstructed after its destruction in 1945. Since 1993, there are even elevators leading up – Frankfurt thinks practically, even with its ico…

Claude Monet - The Luncheon - Google Art Project | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Claude Monet / Wikipedia, Public domainWikipedia RU (Städel)

Das Städel Museum mit Städel Garten | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Städel Museum / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Wikipedia RU (Städel)

Edgar Degas - Orchestra Musicians - Google Art Project | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Edgar Degas / Wikipedia, Public domainWikipedia RU (Städel)

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We're standing before the Städel Museum, an elegant neoclassical building on Schaumainkai, which was inaugurated in 1878. The white façade with its tall windows and column-supported entrance portal appears deliberately understated – as if the building doesn't want to distract from the art it houses. Yet behind this mod…