Frankfurt part 1, city centre

Frankfurt is the fifth biggest city in Germany, with a population around three-quarters of a million. It stands on the river Main, about 13 miles from where the river joins the Rhine. The city was devastated during the war (as this photo on Wiki shows), but a lot of the rebuilding has recreated the buildings as they were. So we begin at the Neue Altstadt - the New Old City!

This is the Paulskirche. This is considered the home of German democracy, the site of the first democratically elected parliament for all of Germany. It was the first building rebuilt after the war.

The interior. This is upstairs; no longer used as a church.


Ground floor features an eliptic wall with a curious mural on it,  "The Procession of the People's Representatives". Wiki tells me: "it depicts the parliamentarians in relation to the people. While the people  —colorful, allegorical figures  —remain in the foreground, their representatives, dressed in monochrome gray and black, march past behind them, toward an unseen destination."

 The Rathaus (city hall). This is the side in Paulsplatz.

Looking into the city hall from the south side.

The Frankfurter Römer is the part of the city hall looking into the Römerberg.


The Römerberg is probably the most impressive part, a large open area, surrounded by old (rebuilt) buildings.


The rather smaller Hühnermarkt (chicken market).

At the east end of the Neue Altstadt is the Dom, the cathedral.




To the west of the city centre is Roßmarkt. The square is used for a market. The monument commemorates Johannes Gensfleisch, better known as Gutenberg, the inventor of printing with movable metal type, as well as Johannes Fust and Peter Schöffer, and dates from 1840.

Behind are several skyscrapers - about half of what Frankfurt has can be seen here.

The Hauptwache (guard house) was originally built in 1730, and rebuilt in 1954, and then again, in a more faithful copy, in 1968.


It gives its name to the square and to the S-Bahn station under it. Eight of the nine lines on the S-Bahn system pass though these two platforms, and trains can run both ways on them, which seems like a recipe for disaster to me, but it seems to run okay, if confusing for visitors.

MyZeil is an impressive shopping centre, opened in 2009, its main entrance on the street Zeil.

Steigerberger Hof, a fancy hotel.


Continued in part two...

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