Römerberg (Frankfurt)

For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt was a city-state within two major Germanic entities: The Holy Roman Empire as the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt (German: Freie Reichsstadt Frankfurt) (until 1806) The German Confederation as the Free City of Frankfurt (Freie Stadt Frankfurt) (1815–66)Frankfurt was a major city of the Holy Roman Empire, being the seat of imperial elections since 885 and the city for imperial coronations from 1562 (previously in Free Imperial City of Aachen) until 1792. Frankfurt was declared an Imperial Free City (Freie und Reichsstadt) in 1372, making the city an entity of Imperial immediacy, meaning immediately subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor and not to a regional ruler or a local nobleman. Due to its imperial significance, Frankfurt survived mediatisation in 1803. Following the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, Frankfurt fell to the rule of Napoleon I, who granted the city to Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg; the city became known as the Principality of Frankfurt. The Catholic cleric Dalberg emancipated Catholics living with the city boundary. In 1810 Dalberg merged Frankfurt with the Principality of Aschaffenburg, the County of Wetzlar, Fulda, and Hanau to form the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. After the defeat of Napoleon and the collapse of the Confederation of the Rhine, Frankfurt was returned to its pre-Napoleonic constitution via the Congress of Vienna of 1815 and became a sovereign city-state and a member of the German Confederation. During the period of the German Confederation, Frankfurt continued to be a major city. The confederation's governing body, the Bundestag (officially called the Bundesversammlung, Federal Assembly) was located in the palace of Thurn und Taxis in Frankfurt's city centre. During the Revolutions of 1848, the Frankfurt Parliament was formed in an attempt to unite the German states in a democratic manner. It was here that Prussian king, Frederick William IV refused the offer of the crown of "Little Germany". In 1866 the Kingdom of Prussia went to war with the Austrian Empire over Schleswig-Holstein, causing the Austro-Prussian War. Frankfurt, remaining loyal to the German Confederation, did not join with Prussia, but remained neutral. Following Prussia's victory, Frankfurt was annexed by decree of the King of Prussia on 20 September, and became part of the newly formed Province of Hesse-Nassau.

The Old St Nicholas Church (in German: Alte Nikolaikirche) in Frankfurt, Germany, is a medieval Lutheran church. It is located near the Römer city hall in Frankfurt's old town called Altstadt. It has 51 bells; 4 are used for peals and 47 are used for carillons. The first chapel on its site was built in the mid-12th century, the current in the mid-15th. Its congregation forms part of today's Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau, comprising Lutheran, Reformed and United Protestant congregations. Despite major destruction in the surrounding old town owing to the bombing of Frankfurt am Main in World War II, the Old St Nicholas Church had only minor damage. Nearby, the Dom-Römer Project aims to bring back parts of the old town between the Römerberg square and Frankfurt Cathedral.

The Römer (German surname, "Roman") is a medieval building in the Altstadt of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and one of the city's most important landmarks. The Römer is located opposite the Old St. Nicholas church and has been the city hall (Rathaus) of Frankfurt for over 600 years. The Römer merchant family sold it together with a second building, the Goldener Schwan (Golden Swan), to the city council on March 11, 1405 and it was converted for use as the city hall. The Haus Römer is actually the middle building of a set of three located in the Römerberg plaza. The Römer is not a museum as it is occasionally used by the city for various purposes, for example as a Standesamt or civil registration office; the wedding rooms are located in the first and second floor of the Haus Löwenstein. The former old town quarter between the Römer and St. Bartholomew's Cathedral has been redeveloped as the Dom-Römer Quarter until 2018, including several reconstructions of historical buildings that were destroyed during World War II.

The Salzhaus (English: Salt House) is a historic building in the German city Frankfurt am Main. It forms the northeastern part of the Frankfurt City Hall complex, on the Römerberg square in the centre of the Altstadt (old town). The Salzhaus was originally built around 1600. It had a rich carved façade on the gable side, making it not only the most important artisan-produced civil building in the city, but also one of the greatest achievements of the Renaissance in the German-speaking world. This building was largely destroyed in World War Two by aerial bombing in March 1944. The base of the old building was preserved, but the floors above it were rebuilt in 1951/52 in a simple post-war architectural form. The reconstruction of the historic facade is still under discussion; it was considered in the 1980s along with a row of houses on the other side of the square (the Ostzeile) but was not carried out. Since then, the organisation Friends of Frankfurt have continued this discussion.

The Historical Museum (German: Historisches Museum) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, was founded in 1878, and includes cultural and historical objects relating to the history of Frankfurt and Germany. It moved into the Saalhof in 1955, and a new extension was opened in 1972. The 1970s extension is currently being replaced by a modern new exhibition building and a small administration building which are expected to be completed by 2015.

The Frankfurt Art Association (German: Frankfurter Kunstverein) is an art museum founded in 1829 by a group of influential citizens of the city of Frankfurt, Germany. The aim of the institution is to support the arts in the city, which was an important center of trade and business. Works of art were bought and exhibitions organized in order to open access to art and culture for the public. Among the founders were Johann Gerhard Christian Thomas, a senator and later mayor of the city, historian Johann Friedrich Böhmer, and art historian Johann David Passavant. Soon after the establishment of the museum, many important and influential citizens and artists became members. Today, the museum is situated in the center of Frankfurt, in a gothic building from 1464 called the Steinernes Haus ('Stone Building'), near the city's town hall. There are around 1,700 members who support the activities and enable the museum to reach its aim today, more than 150 years after its establishment. Although the museum has no permanent collection, as art is not purchased any more, its exhibitions of contemporary art are internationally renowned. Furthermore, guided tours, symposia, film programs, and excursions are organized. So even in the neighbourhood of important museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art (Museum für Moderne Kunst) and Schirn Gallery (Schirn Kunsthalle), the museum manages to assert itself as an important meeting point not only for Frankfurt's art scene. Especially young artists of the state-run art school (Städelschule ) and the well-known design school HFG are closely connected with the museum and cooperation is common.

Paulsplatz (in English: St Paul's Square) is a historic square in the heart of Frankfurt, Germany.St Paul's Church is located here, dominating the square. The Römerberg, another square, is to the south. Berliner Strasse is immediately to the north. Paulsplatz is a major location for the outdoor Frankfurt Christmas Market.

The Schirn Kunsthalle is a Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, located in the old city between the Römer and the Frankfurt Cathedral. The Schirn exhibits both modern and contemporary art. It is the main venue for temporary art exhibitions in Frankfurt. Exhibitions in recent years included retrospectives of Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Frida Kahlo, Alberto Giacometti, Bill Viola, and Yves Klein. The Kunsthalle opened in 1986 and is financially supported by the city and the state. Historically, the German term "Schirn" denotes an open-air stall for the sale of goods, and such stalls were located here until the 19th century. The area was destroyed in 1944 during the Second World War and was not redeveloped until the building of the Kunsthalle. As an exhibition venue, the Schirn enjoys national and international renown, which it has attained through independent productions, publications, and exhibition collaborations with museums such as the Centre Pompidou, the Tate Gallery, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Hermitage Museum, or the Museum of Modern Art.

Berliner Straße is a major street in the city centre of Frankfurt am Main. It was built after the Bombing of Frankfurt am Main in World War II along the route of the old Schnurgasse.

The New Frankfurt Old Town (also known as the Dom-Römer Quarter) is the centre of the old town of Frankfurt am Main, which was reconstructed from 2012 to 2018 as part of a major urban development project called the Dom-Römer Project (German: Dom-Römer-Projekt). The project redesigned and developed a 7,000 square meter property between Römerberg in the west and Domplatz in the east, delimited by Braubachstrasse in the north and the Schirn Kunsthalle in the south, in an effort to remake the old city centre, the Altstadt (old town) of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, which was severely damaged during World War II, in the style of the pre-war architecture. It aims to give the old town quarter between the Römerberg square and the Cathedral (Dom) new life. The old city had already been thoroughly changed in 1904 by hewing several aisles for wide streets into the medieval cluster of insalubrious houses and small alley ways, clearing the way for a tramway line through the historic centre. Due to the heavy bombing of Frankfurt am Main in World War II with many timber-framed buildings, most of the city's old town was destroyed. The efforts to rebuild parts of it began in the 1950s with the Römer city hall, which was built as a modern office building behind the old façade still standing after the war, and parts of the surrounding Römerberg square, building an underground multi-storey car park, and on top of that the modern Technisches Rathaus (Technical City Hall, built 1972–74), whose façade paid homage to the historic context of the city with the timber frame design (Fachwerk) of the pre-war architecture, but within the context of "Brutalist architecture". The Historisches Museum (Museum of city history) was also built, including a cinema. In its entrance way, the museum displayed a model of the old centre as it looked at the end of World War II; in ruins. The anti-brutalist movement continued in a public campaign to demolish the Technische Rathaus and to make the old city look like before the war. This did finally succeed, the Technisches Rathaus and the Museum of City History were demolished in 2010–2011, and the reconstruction of the old town core began. The project is being built on top of a 1970s underground multi-storey car park and the U-Bahn Line B station underneath. Because of the demolition of the Technisches Rathaus, the underground moved and the tunnel had to be monitored closely and corrected several times. Civic engagement in particular led to the old-town-oriented planning of the Dom-Römer project. The 35 designs of new buildings were 2010–11 in several architectural competitions determined with more than 170 participants. The foundation stone was laid at the end of January 2012. At the end of 2017, all of the houses were largely completed from the outside. On May 9, 2018, the fences were removed and the new district was made fully accessible to the public. From September 28 to 30, 2018, a three-day old town festival was held for the opening. Between 250,000 and 300,000 people came to the civic festival in Frankfurt. In March 2019, the Frankfurt Cathedral Romans project received the prestigious international MIPIM award.

St Paul's Church (German: Paulskirche) is a former Protestant church in Frankfurt, Germany, used as a national assembly hall. Its important political symbolism dates back to 1848 when the Frankfurt Parliament convened there, the first publicly and freely-elected German legislative body.

The Haus zur Goldenen Waage is a medieval half-timbered house in the old town of Frankfurt am Main, which was destroyed in the air raid on 22 March 1944. Because of its high architectural and historic value, it is one of the most famous sights of the city. It is situated in front of the main entrance of the cathedral on the corner of the narrow Höllgasse, which leads from the cathedral square to the Römerberg and Altstadtgasse. The detailed Renaissance facade dates from 1619. The remains of the house, which would have allowed reconstruction after the war, were eliminated in 1950. However, the archways remained preserved as part of a private library in Götzenhain. For more than 20 years the land was fallow. Then in 1972–73, during the construction of the subway station Dom / Römer, the Archaeological Garden was created, allowing access to excavations of the Roman settlement on Cathedral hill and the Carolingian Royal Palace Frankfurt. In 2007, reconstruction of parts of the former old town became part of the Dom-Römer Project, which included the rebuilding of the Goldenen Waage. Work did not start until 2014. During the reconstruction, the Archaeological Garden was covered over but remains accessible via the neighbouring townhouse on the market square. In December 2017, the half-timbered facade, the Renaissance ceiling and the belvedere were completed. There are plans to open the restored building to the public in 2019, along with a café and a local office of the Historical Museum.