Frankfurt's Roman Legacy: From Imperial Palace to Cathedral

Photo: Carole Raddato / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Dom-Roemer-Projekt-Markt-5-Goldene-Waage-Ffm-10103 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Simsalabimbam / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Wikipedia EN (Altstadt (Frankfurt am Main))

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We're standing in front of the former Carmelite monastery at the corner of Alte Mainzer Gasse and Karmelitergasse – a building that breathes history itself. Since 1937, it has housed the Archaeological Museum Frankfurt, and that's no coincidence. Because here, within these medieval walls, the city's oldest traces are p…

Historisches-Museum-Frankfurt-30-01-2018-Ffm-781-784 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Simsalabimbam / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Wikipedia RU (Historisches Museum Frankfurt)

Photo: Simsalabimbam / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Before us stands the Saalhof, the stone heart of the Historical Museum – and with that, we're literally standing on the layers we've been following. The chapel on the left, built around 1160, is Frankfurt's oldest surviving building. Eight hundred years of history, right before us. But what happened in the seven hundre…

Roemerberg Panorama Juni 2009 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

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

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We're now standing on the Römerberg, and I have to confess something right away: The name is a lie – or at least a medieval marketing strategy. Roman soldiers never pitched their tents here. The name comes from the "Haus zum Römer," the building over there, which was purchased by the city in 1405. But the Frankfurters …

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Datei:Coronation Banquet of Joseph II in Frankfurt | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: Schule von Martin van Meytens / Wikipedia, Public domainWikipedia RU (Römer (Frankfurt am Main))

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Before us stands a building that makes a remarkable statement: these three gabled houses with their characteristic stepped gables – Frankfurt's city hall since 1405 – are no modest burgher's dwelling. The facade we see was deliberately designed to rival princely residences. Frankfurt purchased these townhouses and made…

Frankfurt Am Main-Archaeologischer Garten-Ansicht vom Domturm-20110925 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

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

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Beneath our feet, right here, lies the answer to the question of why Frankfurt became an imperial city. The Imperial Palace franconofurd—today an archaeological window in the basement rooms of the Stadthaus am Markt—displays Frankfurt's oldest surviving building remains. Roman bath walls, Carolingian palace walls, late…

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-Archaeologischer Garten-Ansicht vom Domturm-20110925 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

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

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Before you stands the Imperial Cathedral of St. Bartholomew, with its 95-meter-high west tower – Frankfurt's first "skyscraper" in the 15th century. The Gothic façade of red sandstone shows exactly what our tour has been following: layers of history, built one upon another. Beneath this ground lie Roman foundations, ab…

Museum-judengasse-ffm002 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: dontworry / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0Wikipedia EN (Frankfurter Judengasse)

Frankfurt Alter jüdischer Friedhof 1 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

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Frankfurt Alter jüdischer Friedhof 2 | 🔗 wikipedia.org

Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Flibbertigibbet assumed (based on copyright claims). / Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5Wikipedia EN (Frankfurter Judengasse)

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We're standing in front of an unassuming modern building on Battonnstraße, but beneath our feet lies one of the oldest layers of Frankfurt's history – the foundations of the Judengasse, the medieval Jewish ghetto. In 1987, construction work uncovered the foundation walls of five houses from the 15th century. What was f…