Frankfurt

Often stereotyped as a financial city, Frankfurt is multifaceted, including the entertainment district at Bahnhofsviertel.

Frankfurt is the largest financial hub in continental Europe. It is home to the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock Exchange and several large commercial banks.

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the world's largest stock exchanges by market capitalization and accounts for more than 90 percent of the turnover in the German market.

In 2010, 63 national and 152 international banks had their registered offices in Frankfurt, including Germany's major banks, notably Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, KfW and Commerzbank, as well as 41 representative offices of international banks.^[6]

Frankfurt is considered a global city (alpha world city) as listed by the GaWC group's 2012 inventory.^[7] Among global cities it was ranked tenth by the Global Power City Index 2011 and 11th by the Global City Competitiveness Index 2012. Among financial hubs, the city was ranked eighth by the International Financial Centers Development Index 2013 and ninth in the 2013 Global Financial Centres Index.

Its central location in Germany and Europe makes Frankfurt a major air, rail, and road transport hub. Frankfurt Airport is one of the world's busiest international airports by passenger traffic and the main hub for Germany's flag carrier Lufthansa. Frankfurt Central Station is one of the largest rail stations in Europe and the busiest junction operated by Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway company, with 342 trains a day to domestic and European destinations.^[8] Frankfurter Kreuz, also known as the Autobahn interchange and located close to the airport, is the most-heavily used interchange in the EU, used by 320,000 cars daily.^[9] In 2011 human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Frankfurt as seventh in its annual 'Quality of Living' survey of cities around the world.^[10] According to The Economist cost-of-living survey, Frankfurt is Germany's most expensive city and the world's tenth most expensive.^[11]

Frankfurt has many downtown high-rise buildings that form its renowned Frankfurt skyline. In fact, it is one of the few cities in the European Union (EU) to have such a skyline, which is why Germans sometimes refer to Frankfurt as Mainhattan, combining the local river Main and "Manhattan". The other well-known nickname is Bankfurt. Before World War II, the city was noted for its unique old town, the largest timber-framed old town in Europe. The Römer area was later rebuilt and is popular with visitors and for events such as Frankfurt Christmas Market. Other parts of the old town were reconstructed as part of the Dom-Römer Project from 2012 to 2018.

Discover more about Distinctions related topics

Entertainment district

Entertainment district

An entertainment district is a type of arts district with a high concentration of movie theaters, theatres or other entertainment venues. Such areas may be officially designated by local governments with functional zoning regulations, as well as public and private investment in distinctive urban design.

Bahnhofsviertel

Bahnhofsviertel

The Bahnhofsviertel is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt I.

Continental Europe

Continental Europe

Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by some, simply as the Continent. When Eurasia is regarded as a single continent, Europe is treated as a subcontinent, and called as European subcontinent.

European Central Bank

European Central Bank

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important central banks.

Deutsche Bundesbank

Deutsche Bundesbank

The Deutsche Bundesbank, literally "German Federal Bank", is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Due to its strength and former size, the Bundesbank is the most influential member of the ESCB. Both the Bundesbank and the European Central Bank (ECB) are located in Frankfurt, Germany. It is sometimes referred to as "Buba" for Bundesbank, while its usual abbreviation is BBk in Germany and internationally DBB.

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm.

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank AG, sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. It was founded in 1870 and grew through multiple acquisitions, including Disconto-Gesellschaft in 1929, Bankers Trust in 1998, and Deutsche Postbank in 2010.

DZ Bank

DZ Bank

DZ Bank AG is the second largest bank in Germany by asset size and the central institution for around 800 cooperative banks and their around 8,500 branch offices. Within the German Cooperative Financial Group, which is one of Germany's largest private sector financial service organizations, DZ Bank functions both as a central institution and as a corporate and investment bank.

Commerzbank

Commerzbank

Commerzbank AG is a significant German universal bank, formally headquartered in Frankfurt since 1990 after successive locations in Hamburg (1870-1905), Berlin (1905-1945), a period of postwar fragmentation (1945-1958), and Düsseldorf (1958-1990). It is among the largest credit institutions in Germany, with total assets of €534 billion as of end-September 2022 surpassed only by Deutsche Bank, the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, and the Cooperative Financial Group. From its founding in 1870, it grew through a number of acquisitions including that in 2008-2009 of Dresdner Bank, a rescue operation through which the German government became the reference shareholder of the combined entity.

Global city

Global city

A global city is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network. The concept originates from geography and urban studies, based on the thesis that globalization has created a hierarchy of strategic geographic locations with varying degrees of influence over finance, trade, and culture worldwide. The global city represents the most complex and significant hub within the international system, characterized by links binding it to other cities that have direct, tangible effects on global socioeconomic affairs.

Global Financial Centres Index

Global Financial Centres Index

The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) is a ranking of the competitiveness of financial centres based on over 29,000 financial centre assessments from an online questionnaire together with over 100 indices from organisations such as the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The first index was published in March 2007. It has been jointly published twice per year by Z/Yen Group in London and the China Development Institute in Shenzhen since 2015, and is widely quoted as a top source for ranking financial centres.

Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt Airport is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres. It is operated by Fraport and serves as the main hub for Lufthansa, including Lufthansa CityLine and Lufthansa Cargo as well as Condor and AeroLogic. The airport covers an area of 2,300 hectares of land and features two passenger terminals with capacity for approximately 65 million passengers per year; four runways; and extensive logistics and maintenance facilities.

The legend of the Frankenfurt (ford of the Franks)

Frankonovurd (in Old High German) or Vadum Francorum (in Latin) were the first names mentioned in written records from 794. It transformed to Frankenfort during the Middle Ages and then to Franckfort and Franckfurth in the modern era. According to historian David Gans, the city was named c. 146 AD by its builder, a Frankish king named Zuna, who ruled over the province then known as Sicambri. He hoped thereby to perpetuate the name of his lineage.^[12] This is chronologically incompatible, however, with the archaeologically demonstrated Roman occupation of the area around Nida fortress in modern Heddernheim. The name is derived from the Franconofurd of the Germanic tribe of the Franks; Furt (cf. English ford) where the river was shallow enough to be crossed on foot.

By the 19th century, the name Frankfurt had been established as the official spelling. The older English spelling of Frankfort is now rarely seen in reference to Frankfurt am Main, although more than a dozen other towns and cities, mainly in the United States, use this spelling, including Frankfort, Kentucky, Frankfort, New York, and Frankfort, Illinois.

The suffix am Main has been used regularly since the 14th century. In English, the city's full name of Frankfurt am Main means "Frankfurt on the Main" (pronounced like English mine or German mein). Frankfurt is located on an ancient ford (German: Furt) on the river Main. As a part of early Franconia, the inhabitants were the early Franks, thus the city's name reveals its legacy as "the ford of the Franks on the Main".^[13]

Among English speakers, the city is commonly known simply as Frankfurt, but Germans occasionally call it by its full name to distinguish it from the other (significantly smaller) German city of Frankfurt an der Oder in the Land of Brandenburg on the Polish border.

The city district Bonames has a name probably dating back to Roman times, thought to be derived from bona me(n)sa (good table).

The common abbreviations for the city, primarily used in railway services and on road signs, are Frankfurt (Main), Frankfurt (M), Frankfurt a. M., Frankfurt/Main or Frankfurt/M. The common abbreviation for the name of the city is "FFM". Also in use is "FRA", the IATA code for Frankfurt Airport.

Discover more about Etymology related topics

Latin

Latin

Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition.

David Gans

David Gans

David Gans, also known as Rabbi Dovid Solomon Ganz, was a Jewish chronicler, mathematician, historian, astronomer and astrologer. He is the author of "Tzemach David" (1592) and therefore also known by this title, the צמח דוד.

Heddernheim

Heddernheim

Heddernheim is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Nord-West and is subdivided into the Stadtbezirke Heddernheim-Ost and Heddernheim-West.

Germanic peoples

Germanic peoples

The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and early medieval Germanic languages and are thus equated at least approximately with Germanic-speaking peoples, although different academic disciplines have their own definitions of what makes someone or something "Germanic". The Romans named the area belonging to North-Central Europe in which Germanic peoples lived Germania, stretching East to West between the Vistula and Rhine rivers and north to south from Southern Scandinavia to the upper Danube. In discussions of the Roman period, the Germanic peoples are sometimes referred to as Germani or ancient Germans, although many scholars consider the second term problematic since it suggests identity with present-day Germans. The very concept of "Germanic peoples" has become the subject of controversy among contemporary scholars. Some scholars call for its total abandonment as a modern construct since lumping "Germanic peoples" together implies a common group identity for which there is little evidence. Other scholars have defended the term's continued use and argue that a common Germanic language allows one to speak of "Germanic peoples", regardless of whether these ancient and medieval peoples saw themselves as having a common identity.

Franks

Franks

The Franks were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire. Later the term was associated with Romanized Germanic dynasties within the collapsing Western Roman Empire, who eventually commanded the whole region between the rivers Loire and Rhine. They imposed power over many other post-Roman kingdoms and Germanic peoples. Beginning with Charlemagne in 800, Frankish rulers were given recognition by the Catholic Church as successors to the old rulers of the Western Roman Empire.

Cf.

Cf.

The abbreviation cf. is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that cf. be used only to suggest a comparison, and the word "see" be used to point to a source of information.

Frankfort, Kentucky

Frankfort, Kentucky

Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city; the population was 28,602 at the 2020 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the principal city of the Frankfort, Kentucky Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Franklin and Anderson counties.

Frankfort (town), New York

Frankfort (town), New York

Frankfort is a town in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The town is named after one of its earliest settlers, Lawrence (Lewis) Frank. The town of Frankfort includes a village, also called Frankfort. Frankfort is located east of Utica, and the Erie Canal passes along its northern border. At the time of the 2010 census, the population was 7,636.

Frankfort, Illinois

Frankfort, Illinois

Frankfort is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Cook County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 20,296. According to Forbes.com, in 2007 the village ranked as the 36th fastest growing suburb in the United States. Frankfort is a suburb of Chicago. The Village is home to a park called Commissioners Park and some schools like Lincoln-Way East High School and Dr. Julian Rogus School.

Main (river)

Main (river)

The Main is the longest tributary of the Rhine. It rises as the White Main in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and flows west through central Germany for 525 kilometres (326 mi) to meet the Rhine below Rüsselsheim, Hesse. The cities of Mainz and Wiesbaden are close to the confluence.

Franconia

Franconia

Franconia is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect.

Frankfurt (Oder)

Frankfurt (Oder)

Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder, is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German city on the river Oder. Frankfurt sits on the western bank of the river, opposite the Polish town of Słubice, which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945, and called Dammvorstadt until then. The city is located about 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of Berlin, in the south of the historical region Lubusz Land. The large lake Helenesee lies within Frankfurt's city limits.

Early history and Holy Roman Empire

Roman settlements were established in the area of the Römer, probably in the first century. Nida (Heddernheim, Praunheim) was also a Roman civitas capital.

Alemanni and Franks lived there, and by 794, Charlemagne presided over an imperial assembly and church synod, at which Franconofurd (alternative spellings end with -furt and -vurd) was first mentioned. It was one of the two capitals of Charlemagne's grandson Louis the German, together with Regensburg. Louis founded the collegiate church, rededicated in 1239 to Bartholomew the Apostle and now Frankfurt Cathedral.^[14]

Frankfurt was one of the most important cities in the Holy Roman Empire. From 855, the German kings were elected and crowned in Aachen. From 1562, the kings and emperors were crowned and elected in Frankfurt, initiated for Maximilian II. This tradition ended in 1792, when Franz II was elected. His coronation was deliberately held on Bastille Day, 14 July, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. The elections and coronations took place in St. Bartholomäus Cathedral, known as the Kaiserdom (Emperor's Cathedral), or its predecessors.

The Frankfurter Messe ('Frankfurt Trade Fair') was first mentioned in 1150. In 1240, Emperor Friedrich II granted an imperial privilege to its visitors, meaning they would be protected by the empire. The fair became particularly important when similar fairs in French Beaucaire lost attraction around 1380. Book trade fairs began in 1478.

In 1372, Frankfurt became a Reichsstadt (Imperial Free City), i.e., directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor and not to a regional ruler or a local nobleman.

In 1585, Frankfurt traders established a system of exchange rates for the various currencies that were circulating to prevent cheating and extortion. Therein lay the early roots for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Frankfurt managed to remain neutral during the Thirty Years' War, but suffered from the bubonic plague that refugees brought to the city. After the war, Frankfurt regained its wealth. In the late 1770s the theater principal Abel Seyler was based in Frankfurt, and established the city's theatrical life.^[15]

Frankfurt in 1612

Frankfurt in 1872

Kaiserplatz, c. 1880

Impact of French revolution and the Napoleonic Wars

Following the French Revolution, Frankfurt was occupied or bombarded several times by French troops. It remained a Free city until the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1805/6. In 1806, it became part of the principality of Aschaffenburg under the Fürstprimas (Prince-Primate), Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg. This meant that Frankfurt was incorporated into the Confederation of the Rhine. In 1810, Dalberg adopted the title of a Grand Duke of Frankfurt. Napoleon intended to make his adopted son Eugène de Beauharnais, already Prince de Venise ("prince of Venice", a newly established primogeniture in Italy), Grand Duke of Frankfurt after Dalberg's death (since the latter as a Catholic bishop had no legitimate heirs). The Grand Duchy remained a short episode lasting from 1810 to 1813 when the military tide turned in favor of the Anglo-Prussian-led allies that overturned the Napoleonic order. Dalberg abdicated in favor of Eugène de Beauharnais, which of course was only a symbolic action, as the latter effectively never ruled after the ruin of the French armies and Frankfurt's takeover by the allies.

Frankfurt as a fully sovereign state

After Napoleon's final defeat and abdication, the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) dissolved the grand-duchy and Frankfurt became a fully sovereign city-state with a republican form of government. Frankfurt entered the newly founded German Confederation (till 1866) as a free city, becoming the seat of its Bundestag, the confederal parliament where the nominally presiding Habsburg Emperor of Austria was represented by an Austrian "presidential envoy".

After the ill-fated revolution of 1848, Frankfurt was the seat of the first democratically elected German parliament, the Frankfurt Parliament, which met in the Frankfurter Paulskirche (St. Paul's Church) and was opened on 18 May 1848. The institution failed in 1849 when the Prussian king, Frederick William IV, declared that he would not accept "a crown from the gutter". In the year of its existence, the assembly developed a common constitution for a unified Germany, with the Prussian king as its monarch.

Frankfurt after the loss of sovereignty

View of Frankfurt am Main, including the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge), by Gustave Courbet (1858)

Frankfurt lost its independence after the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 when Prussia annexed several smaller states, among them the Free City of Frankfurt. The Prussian administration incorporated Frankfurt into its province of Hesse-Nassau. The Prussian occupation and annexation were perceived as a great injustice in Frankfurt, which retained its distinct western European, urban and cosmopolitan character. The formerly independent towns of Bornheim and Bockenheim were incorporated in 1890.

In 1914, the citizens founded the University of Frankfurt, later named Goethe University Frankfurt. This marked the only civic foundation of a university in Germany; today it is one of Germany's largest.

From 6 April to 17 May 1920, following military intervention to put down the Ruhr uprising, Frankfurt was occupied by French troops.^[16] The French claimed that Articles 42 to 44 of the peace treaty of Versailles concerning the demilitarization of the Rhineland had been broken.^[17] In 1924, Ludwig Landmann became the first Jewish mayor of the city, and led a significant expansion during the following years. During the Nazi era, the synagogues of the city were destroyed and the vast majority of the Jewish population fled or was killed.^[18]

Frankfurt was severely bombed in World War II (1939–1945). About 5,500 residents were killed during the raids, and the once-famous medieval city center, by that time the largest in Germany, was almost completely destroyed. It became a ground battlefield on 26 March 1945, when the Allied advance into Germany was forced to take the city in contested urban combat that included a river assault. The 5th Infantry Division and the 6th Armored Division of the United States Army captured Frankfurt after several days of intense fighting, and it was declared largely secure on 29 March 1945.^[19]

After the end of the war, Frankfurt became a part of the newly founded state of Hesse, consisting of the old Hesse-(Darmstadt) and the Prussian Hesse provinces. The city was part of the American Zone of Occupation of Germany. The Military Governor for the United States Zone (1945–1949) and the United States High Commissioner for Germany (HICOG) (1949–1952) had their headquarters in the IG Farben Building, intentionally left undamaged by the Allies' wartime bombardment.

Frankfurt was the original choice for the provisional capital city of the newly founded state of West Germany in 1949. The city constructed a parliament building that was never used for its intended purpose (it housed the radio studios of Hessischer Rundfunk). In the end, Konrad Adenauer, the first postwar Chancellor, preferred the town of Bonn, for the most part because it was close to his hometown, but also because many other prominent politicians opposed the choice of Frankfurt out of concern that Frankfurt would be accepted as the permanent capital, thereby weakening the West German population's support for a reunification with East Germany and the eventual return of the capital to Berlin.

Postwar reconstruction took place in a sometimes simple modern style, thus changing Frankfurt's architectural face. A few landmark buildings were reconstructed historically, albeit in a simplified manner (e.g., Römer, St. Paul's Church, and Goethe House). The collection of historically significant Cairo Genizah documents of the Municipal Library was destroyed by the bombing. According to Arabist and Genizah scholar S.D. Goitein, "not even handlists indicating its contents have survived."^[20]

The Frankfurt Parliament at St. Paul's Church in 1848

Aerial view of the cathedral in May 1945

Reconstruction (1981–1984) of six houses at the east side of the Römerberg which were destroyed in World War II

The end of the war marked Frankfurt's comeback as Germany's leading financial hub, mainly because Berlin, now a city divided into four sectors, could no longer rival it. In 1948, the Allies founded the Bank deutscher Länder, the forerunner of Deutsche Bundesbank. Following this decision, more financial institutions were re-established, e.g. Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank. In the 1950s, Frankfurt Stock Exchange regained its position as the country's leading stock exchange.

Frankfurt also reemerged as Germany's transportation hub and Frankfurt Airport became Europe's second-busiest airport behind London Heathrow Airport in 1961.

During the 1970s, the city created one of Europe's most efficient underground transportation systems.^[21] That system includes a suburban rail system (S-Bahn) linking outlying communities with the city center, and a deep underground light rail system with smaller coaches (U-Bahn) also capable of travelling above ground on rails.

In 1998, the European Central Bank was founded in Frankfurt, followed by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and European Systemic Risk Board in 2011.

Discover more about History related topics

History of Frankfurt am Main

History of Frankfurt am Main

The city of Frankfurt am Main started on a hill at a ford in the Main River. The city developed into a financial centre, nicknamed the smallest metropolis in the world.

Francia

Francia

Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks, Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire, was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle Ages. Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era.

East Francia

East Francia

East Francia or the Kingdom of the East Franks was a successor state of Charlemagne's empire ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was created through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the former empire into three kingdoms.

Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.

Free City of Frankfurt

Free City of 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 The German Confederation as the Free City of Frankfurt (1815–66)

Grand Duchy of Frankfurt

Grand Duchy of Frankfurt

The Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was a German satellite state of Napoleonic creation. It came into existence in 1810 through the combination of the former territories of the Archbishopric of Mainz along with the Free City of Frankfurt itself.

German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire, also referred to as Imperial Germany, the Second Reich, or simply Germany, was the period of the German Reich from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the November Revolution in 1918, when the German Reich changed its form of government from a monarchy to a republic.

American occupation zone in Germany

American occupation zone in Germany

The American occupation zone was one of the four occupation zones established by the Allies of World War II in Germany west of the Oder–Neisse line in July 1945, around two months after the German surrender and the end of World War II in Europe. It was controlled by the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) and ceased to exist after the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany on 21 September 1949, but United States maintains military presence across Germany.

Germany

Germany

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of 357,022 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi), with a population of around 84 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.

Germania

Germania

Germania, also called Magna Germania, Germania Libera, or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north-central Europe during the Roman era, which was associated by Roman authors with the Germanic peoples. The region stretched roughly from the Middle and Lower Rhine in the west to the Vistula in the east. It also extended as far south as the Upper and Middle Danube and Pannonia, and to the known parts of Scandinavia in the north. Archaeologically, these peoples correspond roughly to the Roman Iron Age of those regions. While apparently dominated by Germanic peoples, Magna Germania was also inhabited by Celts.

Heddernheim

Heddernheim

Heddernheim is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Nord-West and is subdivided into the Stadtbezirke Heddernheim-Ost and Heddernheim-West.

Alemanni

Alemanni

The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the Agri Decumates in 260, and later expanded into present-day Alsace and northern Switzerland, leading to the establishment of the Old High German language in those regions, which by the eighth century were collectively referred to as Alamannia.

Frankfurt as seen by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2A

Frankfurt is the largest city in the state of Hesse in the western part of Germany.

Site

Frankfurt is located on both sides of the river Main, south-east of the Taunus mountain range. The southern part of the city contains the Frankfurt City Forest, Germany's largest city forest. The city area is 248.31 km² (95.87 sq mi) and extends over 23.4 km (14.54 mi) east to west and 23.3 km (14.48 mi) north to south. Its downtown is north of the river Main in Altstadt district (the historical center) and the surrounding Innenstadt district. The geographical center is in Bockenheim district near Frankfurt West station.

Frankfurt at the heart of the densely populated Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region with a population of 5.5 million. Other important cities in the region are Wiesbaden (capital of Hesse), Mainz (capital of Rhineland-Palatinate), Darmstadt, Offenbach am Main, Hanau, Aschaffenburg, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Rüsselsheim, Wetzlar and Marburg.

Districts

The 46 Stadtteile (city districts) of central Frankfurt, 2010

Frankfurt am Main by "Ortsbezirke" (local districts) and "zugehörige Stadtbezirke" (associated city districts), 2020

The central Innenstadt district, as seen by a SkySat satellite

The city is divided into 46 city districts (Stadtteile), which are in turn divided into 121 city boroughs (Stadtbezirke) and 448 electoral districts (Wahlbezirke). The 46 city districts combine into 16 area districts (Ortsbezirke), which each have a district committee and chairperson.

The largest city district by population and area is Sachsenhausen, while the smallest is Altstadt, Frankfurt's historical center. Three larger city districts (Sachsenhausen, Westend and Nordend) are divided for administrative purposes into a northern (-Nord) and a southern (-Süd) part, respectively a western (-West) and an eastern (-Ost) part, but are generally considered as one city district (which is why often only 43 city districts are mentioned, even on the city's official website).^[22]

Some larger housing areas are often falsely called city districts, even by locals, like Nordweststadt (part of Niederursel, Heddernheim and Praunheim), Goldstein (part of Schwanheim), Riedberg (part of Kalbach-Riedberg) and Europaviertel (part of Gallus). The Bankenviertel (banking district), Frankfurt's financial district, is also not an administrative city district (it covers parts of the western Innenstadt district, the southern Westend district and the eastern Bahnhofsviertel district).

Many city districts are incorporated suburbs (Vororte) or were previously independent cities, such as Höchst. Some like Nordend and Westend arose during the rapid growth of the city in the Gründerzeit following the Unification of Germany, while others were formed from territory which previously belonged to other city district(s), such as Dornbusch and Riederwald.

History of incorporations

Until the year 1877 the city's territory consisted of the present-day inner-city districts of Altstadt, Innenstadt, Bahnhofsviertel, Gutleutviertel, Gallus, Westend, Nordend, Ostend and Sachsenhausen.

Bornheim was part of an administrative district called Landkreis Frankfurt, before becoming part of the city on 1 January 1877, followed by Bockenheim on 1 April 1895. Seckbach, Niederrad and Oberrad followed on 1 July 1900. The Landkreis Frankfurt was finally dispersed on 1 April 1910, and therefore Berkersheim, Bonames, Eckenheim, Eschersheim, Ginnheim, Hausen, Heddernheim, Niederursel, Praunheim, Preungesheim and Rödelheim joined the city. In the same year a new city district, Riederwald, was created on territory that had formerly belonged to Seckbach and Ostend.

On 1 April 1928 the City of Höchst became part of Frankfurt, as well as its city districts Sindlingen, Unterliederbach and Zeilsheim. Simultaneously the Landkreis Höchst was dispersed with its member cities either joining Frankfurt (Fechenheim, Griesheim, Nied, Schwanheim, Sossenheim) or joining the newly established Landkreis of Main-Taunus-Kreis.

Dornbusch became a city district in 1946. It was created on territory that had formerly belonged to Eckenheim and Ginnheim.

On 1 August 1972, Hesse's smaller suburbs of Harheim, Kalbach, Nieder-Erlenbach, and Nieder-Eschbach became districts while other neighboring suburbs chose to join the Main-Taunus-Kreis, the Landkreis Offenbach, the Kreis Groß-Gerau, the Hochtaunuskreis, the Main-Kinzig-Kreis or the Wetteraukreis.

Bergen-Enkheim was the last suburb to become part of Frankfurt on 1 January 1977.

Flughafen became an official city district in 1979. It covers the area of Frankfurt Airport that had belonged to Sachsenhausen and the neighboring city of Mörfelden-Walldorf.

Frankfurt's youngest city district is Frankfurter Berg. It was part of Bonames until 1996.

Kalbach was officially renamed Kalbach-Riedberg in 2006 because of the large residential housing development in the area known as Riedberg.

Neighboring districts and cities

Frankfurt urban area within Hesse

To the west Frankfurt borders the administrative district (Landkreis) of Main-Taunus-Kreis with towns such as Hattersheim am Main, Kriftel, Hofheim am Taunus, Kelkheim, Liederbach am Taunus, Sulzbach, Schwalbach am Taunus and Eschborn; to the northwest the Hochtaunuskreis with Steinbach, Oberursel (Taunus) and Bad Homburg vor der Höhe; to the north the Wetteraukreis with Karben and Bad Vilbel; to the northeast the Main-Kinzig-Kreis with Niederdorfelden and Maintal; to the southeast the city of Offenbach am Main; to the south the Kreis Offenbach with Neu-Isenburg and to the southwest the Kreis Groß-Gerau with Mörfelden-Walldorf, Rüsselsheim and Kelsterbach.

Together with these towns (and some larger nearby towns, e.g., Hanau, Rodgau, Dreieich, Langen) Frankfurt forms a contiguous built-up urban area called Stadtregion Frankfurt which is not an official administrative district. The urban area had an estimated population of 2.3 million in 2010, and is the 13th-largest urban area in the EU.

Climate

Frankfurt has a temperate-oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb). Its average annual temperature is 10.6 °C (51.1 °F), with monthly mean temperatures ranging from 1.6 °C (34.9 °F) in January to 20.0 °C (68.0 °F) in July (Data from between 1981 and 2010).

Due to its location at the northern tip of the Upper Rhine Valley in the Southwest of Germany, Frankfurt is one of the warmest and driest bigger German cities together with cities like Darmstadt, Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Freiburg im Breisgau. Summers in Frankfurt can get very warm, when compared to the rest of the country. Between the years 1981 and 2010 there have been 52 days in Frankfurt with a maximum temperature over 25 °C and 13 days with a maximum over 30 °C on average per year.

Climate change elevates the number of hot days. In the year of 2018, there have been recorded 108 days with a maximum of over 25 °C and 43 days with a maximum of over 30 °C (compared to 52 and 13 days on average per year between 1981 and 2010). The overall tendency for higher temperatures can be seen when comparing the climate data from 1981 to 2010 with the data from 2010 to 2020. It is getting sunnier, drier and warmer and the climate resembles more a humid subtropical climate (Cfa).

Being an urban heat island, Frankfurt is sometimes affected by tropical nights, where the temperature does not drop under 20 °C between May and September. This occurs because the density of the city causes it to store all the heat.

The growing season is longer when compared to the rest of Germany, thus resulting in an early arrival of springtime in the region.

Winters in Frankfurt are generally mild or at least not freezing with a small possibility of snow, especially in January and February but dark and often overcast. Frankfurt is, on average, covered with snow only for around 10 to 20 days per year.^[23] The temperatures fell at about 70 days under 0 °C and daily maximum has stayed under 0 °C for about 13 days on average per year between 1981 and 2010. Some days with lows under −10 °C can occur more often here than at the coasts of Northern Germany, but not that frequently like in Bavaria or the eastern parts of Germany.

Because of the mild climate in the region, there are some well-known wine regions not far away such as Rhenish Hesse, Rheingau, Franconia (wine region) and Bergstraße (route). There is also a microclimate on the northern bank of the river Main which is responsible for palms, fig trees, lemon trees and southern European plants growing in that area. The area is called the "Nizza" (the German word for the southern French town Nice) and is one of the biggest parks with a Mediterranean vegetation north of the Alps.^[24]

Discover more about Geography related topics

European Space Agency

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states dedicated to the exploration of space. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,200 in 2018 and an annual budget of about €4.9 billion in 2023.

Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia, officially the State of Hesse, is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major historic cities are Darmstadt and Kassel. With an area of 21,114.73 square kilometers and a population of over six million, it ranks seventh and fifth, respectively, among the sixteen German states. Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Germany's second-largest metropolitan area, is mainly located in Hesse.

Main (river)

Main (river)

The Main is the longest tributary of the Rhine. It rises as the White Main in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and flows west through central Germany for 525 kilometres (326 mi) to meet the Rhine below Rüsselsheim, Hesse. The cities of Mainz and Wiesbaden are close to the confluence.

Frankfurt City Forest

Frankfurt City Forest

The Frankfurt City Forest or Frankfurter Stadtwald is a forest district in the south of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. There are also other forest areas spread out through the city.

Altstadt (Frankfurt am Main)

Altstadt (Frankfurt am Main)

The Altstadt is a quarter (Stadtteil) of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt I.

Innenstadt (Frankfurt am Main)

Innenstadt (Frankfurt am Main)

The Innenstadt is the central city district of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt I. Its western part forms part of Frankfurt's central business district, the Bankenviertel. Germany's most expensive shopping streets and real estate are found within the city district.

Bockenheim (Frankfurt am Main)

Bockenheim (Frankfurt am Main)

Bockenheim is a quarter of Frankfurt, Germany. It was incorporated into Frankfurt on 1 April 1895 and is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt II.

Frankfurt West station

Frankfurt West station

Frankfurt (Main) West station is a railway station for regional and S-Bahn services in Frankfurt, Germany, on the Main-Weser Railway, in the district of Bockenheim, near the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds and the Bockenheim campus of the Goethe University Frankfurt.

Frankfurt Rhine-Main

Frankfurt Rhine-Main

The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area, is the second-largest metropolitan region in Germany after Rhine-Ruhr, with a total population exceeding 5.8 million. The metropolitan region is located in the central-western part of Germany, and stretches over parts of three German states: Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Bavaria. The largest cities in the region are Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Darmstadt, Offenbach, Worms, Hanau, and Aschaffenburg.

Darmstadt

Darmstadt

Darmstadt is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area. Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse after Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, and Kassel.

Hanau

Hanau

Hanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its station is a major railway junction and it has a port on the river Main, making it an important transport centre. The town is known for being the birthplace of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm and Franciscus Sylvius. Since the 16th century it was a centre of precious metal working with many goldsmiths. It is home to Heraeus, one of the largest family-owned companies in Germany.

Aschaffenburg

Aschaffenburg

Aschaffenburg is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative seat.

Population

With a population of 763,380 (2019) within its administrative boundaries^[30] and of 2,300,000 in the actual urban area,^[31] Frankfurt is the fifth-largest city in Germany, after Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne. Central Frankfurt has been a Großstadt (a city with at least 100,000 residents by definition) since 1875. With 414,576 residents in 1910, it was the ninth largest city in Germany and the number of inhabitants grew to 553,464 before World War II. After the war, at the end of the year 1945, the number had dropped to 358,000. In the following years, the population grew again and reached an all-time-high of 691,257 in 1963. It dropped again to 592,411 in 1986 but has increased since then. According to the demographic forecasts for central Frankfurt, the city will have a population up to 813,000 within its administrative boundaries in 2035^[32] and more than 2.5 million inhabitants in its urban area.

As of 2015, Frankfurt had 1909 ultra high-net-worth individuals, the sixth-highest number of any city.^[33]

During the 1970s, the state government of Hesse wanted to expand the city's administrative boundaries to include the entire urban area. This would have made Frankfurt officially the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin with up to 3 million inhabitants.^[34] However, because local authorities did not agree, the administrative territory is still much smaller than its actual urban area.

Immigration and foreign nationals

According to data from the city register of residents, 51.2% of the population had a migration background as of 2015, which means that a person or at least one or both of their parents was born with foreign citizenship. For the first time, a majority of the city residents had an at least part non-German background.^[37] Moreover, three of four children in the city under the age of six had full or partial immigrant backgrounds,^[38] and 27.7% of residents had a foreign citizenship.^[39]

According to statistics, 46.7% of immigrants in Frankfurt come from other countries in the EU; 24.5% come from European countries that are not part of the EU; 15.7% come from Asia (including Western Asia and South Asia); 7.3% come from Africa; 3.4% come from North America (including the Caribbean and Central America); 0.2% come from Australia and New Zealand; 2.3% come from South America; and 1.1% come from Pacific island nations. Because of this the city is often considered to be a multicultural city, and has been compared to New York City, London, and Toronto.

Religion

Frankfurt was historically a Protestant-dominated city. However, during the 19th century, an increasing number of Catholics moved to Frankfurt. As of 2013^[update], the largest Christian denominations were Catholicism (22.7% of the population) and Protestantism, especially Lutheranism (19.4%).^[40]

The Jewish community has a history dating back to medieval times and has always ranked among the largest in Germany. Over 7,200 inhabitants are affiliated with the Jewish community, making it the second largest in Germany after Berlin.^[18] Frankfurt has four active synagogues.^[41]

Due to the growing immigration of people from Muslim countries beginning in the 1960s, Frankfurt has a large Muslim community. Estimations put the share of Muslim inhabitants at approximately 12% (as of 2006).^[42] According to calculations based on census data for 21 countries of origin, the number of Muslim migrants in Frankfurt amounted to about 84,000 in 2011, making up 12.6 percent of the population.^[43] The most prevalent countries of origin were Turkey and Morocco.

Discover more about Demographics related topics

List of cities in Germany by population

List of cities in Germany by population

As defined by the German Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development, a Großstadt is a city with more than 100,000 inhabitants. As of December 31, 2015, 79 cities in Germany fulfill this criterion and are listed here. This list refers only to the population of individual municipalities within their defined limits, which does not include other municipalities or suburban areas within urban agglomerations or metropolitan areas.

Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent states, Berlin is surrounded by the State of Brandenburg and contiguous with Potsdam, Brandenburg's capital. Berlin's urban area, which has a population of around 4.5 million, is the second most populous urban area in Germany after the Ruhr. The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.

Munich

Munich

Munich is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, and thus the largest which does not constitute its own state, as well as the 11th-largest city in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to 6 million people. Straddling the banks of the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps, Munich is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany with 4,500 people per km2. Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million people in the urban region. Centered on the left (west) bank of the Rhine, Cologne is about 35 km (22 mi) southeast of NRW's state capital Düsseldorf and 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany.

Ultra high-net-worth individual

Ultra high-net-worth individual

Ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) are defined as having a net worth of at least US$30 million in constant 2018 dollars. Other sources such as Credit Suisse define UHNWI as adults with wealth above USD 50 million. It is the wealth segment above very-high-net-worth individuals and high-net-worth-individuals. Although they constitute only 0.003% of the world's population, they hold 13% of the world's total wealth. By 2017, there were 226,450 individuals designated as UHNWI, representing an increase of 3.5%, with their combined total wealth increasing to $27 trillion.

Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia, officially the State of Hesse, is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major historic cities are Darmstadt and Kassel. With an area of 21,114.73 square kilometers and a population of over six million, it ranks seventh and fifth, respectively, among the sixteen German states. Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Germany's second-largest metropolitan area, is mainly located in Hesse.

Altstadt (Frankfurt am Main)

Altstadt (Frankfurt am Main)

The Altstadt is a quarter (Stadtteil) of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt I.

Innenstadt (Frankfurt am Main)

Innenstadt (Frankfurt am Main)

The Innenstadt is the central city district of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt I. Its western part forms part of Frankfurt's central business district, the Bankenviertel. Germany's most expensive shopping streets and real estate are found within the city district.

Nordend (Frankfurt am Main)

Nordend (Frankfurt am Main)

Nordend-West and Nordend-Ost are two quarters of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The division into a western and an eastern part is mostly for administrative purposes, as the Nordend is generally considered an entity. Both city districts are part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt III.

Ostend (Frankfurt am Main)

Ostend (Frankfurt am Main)

Ostend is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt IV. The name means "East End.

Bornheim (Frankfurt am Main)

Bornheim (Frankfurt am Main)

Bornheim is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Bornheim/Ostend.

Gallus (Frankfurt am Main)

Gallus (Frankfurt am Main)

Gallus is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt I and the location of the Frankfurt train station.

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Mayor

Acting Lord Mayor Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg (Green)

The current Mayor is Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg of the Alliance 90/The Greens. She took the office on an interim basis in November 2022 following the recall of the previous mayor Peter Feldmann.^[44]

The most recent mayoral election was held on 25 February 2018, with a runoff held on 11 March, and the results were as follows:

City council

Results of the 2021 city council election

The Frankfurt am Main city council (Stadtverordnetenversammlung) governs the city alongside the mayor. It is located in the city's medieval town hall, Römer, which is also used for representative and official purposes. The most recent city council election was held on 14 March 2021, and the results were as follows:

Party		Lead candidate	Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)	Martina Feldmayer	4,894,339	24.6	9.3	23	9
	Christian Democratic Union (CDU)	Nils Kößler	4,361,942	21.9	2.2	20	2
	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	Mike Josef	3,385,017	17.0	6.8	16	6
	The Left (Die Linke)	Dominike Pauli	1,572,333	7.9	0.1	7	1
	Free Democratic Party (FDP)	Annette Rinn	1,515,646	7.6	0.1	7	±0
	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	Patrick Schenk	902,412	4.5	4.4	4	4
	Volt Germany (Volt)	Eileen O'Sullivan	745,418	3.7	New	4	New
	Citizens for Frankfurt (BFF)	Mathias Mund	395,905	2.0	0.7	2	1
	Ecological Left – Anti-Racist List (ÖkoLinX-ARL)	Jutta Ditfurth	359,304	1.8	0.3	2	±0
	Die PARTEI (PARTEI)	Nico Wehnemann	361,932	1.8	0.4	2	1
	Europe List for Frankfurt (ELF)	Luigi Brillante	265,914	1.3	0.1	1	±0
	Free Voters (FW)	Eric Pärisch	162,122	0.8	0.2	1	±0
	I am a Frankfurter (IBF)	Jumas Medoff	166,573	0.8	0.4	1	1
	Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG)	Haluk Yıldız	128,846	0.6	New	1	New
	Garden Party Frankfurt am Main (Gartenpartei)	Tilo Schwichtenberg	126,991	0.6	New	1	New
	Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)	Herbert Förster	123,772	0.6	0.2	1	±0
	Polish Dialogue Initiative for Frankfurt	Barbara Lange	88,771	0.4	New	0	New
	The Frankfurters (dFfm)	Bernhard Ochs	73,026	0.4	0.4	0	1
	International Vote Frankfurt (ISF)	Kerry Reddington	61,772	0.3	New	0	New
	Climate List Frankfurt (Klimaliste)	Beate Balzert	61,526	0.3	New	0	New
	Free Party Frankfurt (FPF)	Benjamin Klinger	40,621	0.2	New	0	New
	United Democrats (VD)	André Leitzbach	30,691	0.2	New	0	New
	The Social Liberals (SL)	Christian Bethke	18,563	0.1	New	0	New
	Frankfurt Free Voter Group (FFWG)	Thomas Schmitt	16,587	0.1	New	0	New
	Romanians for Frankfurt (RF)	Ionut-Vlad Plenz	15,884	0.1	New	0	New
	Party of Humanists (Die Humanisten)	Rüdiger Gottschalk	11,680	0.1	New	0	New
	Bulgarian Association of Frankfurt (BGF)	Daniela Spasova-Mischke	11,488	0.1	New	0	New
	Sven Junghans, We Frankfurters (WF)	Sven Junghans	9,627	0.0	New	0	New
Valid votes			221,487	96.0
Invalid votes			9,196	4.0
Total			230,683	100.0		93	±0
Electorate/voter turnout			512,034	45.1	6.1
Source: Statistics Hesse

Landtag election

For elections to the Hesse State Parliament, Frankfurt am Main is split up into six constituencies. In total 15 delegates represent the city in the Landtag in Wiesbaden. The last election took place in October 2018. Six members of parliament were directly elected in their respective constituencies: Uwe Serke (CDU, Frankfurt am Main I), Miriam Dahlke (Greens, Frankfurt am Main II), Ralf-Norbert Bartel (CDU, Frankfurt am Main III), Michael Boddenberg (CDU, Frankfurt am Main IV), Markus Bocklet (Greens, Frankfurt am Main V) and Boris Rhein (CDU, Frankfurt am Main VI).

Delegates from Frankfurt often serve high-ranking positions in Hessian politics, e.g. Michael Boddenberg is Hessian Minister of Finance and Boris Rhein was elected President of the Landtag of Hesse in 2019.

German federal election

For federal elections which are held every four years, Frankfurt is split up into two constituencies. In the German federal election 2017, Matthias Zimmer (CDU) and Bettina Wiesmann were elected to the Bundestag by directe mandate in Frankfurt am Main I and Frankfurt am Main II respectively. Nicola Beer (FDP), Achim Kessler (Linke), Ulli Nissen (SPD) and Omid Nouripour (Greens) were elected as well.

Nicola Beer resigned as a member of parliament in 2019 following her election to the European Parliament where she now serves as vice president.

Discover more about Government and politics related topics

Mayor of Frankfurt

Mayor of Frankfurt

The Mayor of Frankfurt is the highest-ranking member of city government in Frankfurt, Germany. The mayor was traditionally elected by the city council. This system was replaced in 1995, and the position has been directly elected. Two people have won election since then: Petra Roth (CDU) and Peter Feldmann (SPD). Current mayor Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg (Green) assumed the office in November 2022 following a successful recall election against Feldmann.

Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg

Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg

Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg is a German politician for Alliance 90/The Greens. Since 2021 she has been Bürgermeisterin of Frankfurt am Main; following the recall of previous Oberbürgermeister Peter Feldmann, she has acted as Mayor of Frankfurt on a caretaker basis from 12 November 2022 until the next mayoral election in March 2023.

Alliance 90/The Greens

Alliance 90/The Greens

Alliance 90/The Greens, often simply referred to as the Greens, is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens and Alliance 90. The Greens had itself merged with the East German Green Party after German reunification in 1990.

Recall election

Recall election

A recall election is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended. Recalls appear in the constitution in ancient Athenian democracy. Even where they are legally available, recall elections are only commonly held in a small number of countries including Peru, Ecuador, and Japan. They are considered by groups such as ACE Electoral Knowledge Network the most rarely used form of direct democracy.

Peter Feldmann

Peter Feldmann

Peter Manuel Feldmann is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). On 25 March 2012, he was elected Mayor of Frankfurt as successor of Petra Roth (CDU). On 6 November 2022, he was recalled, with 95% of the vote against him, and he left office on 11 November 2022.

Social Democratic Party of Germany

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.

Bernadette Weyland

Bernadette Weyland

Bernadette Weyland is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. She served as President of the city council of Frankfurt from 2011 to 2014, as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance of Hesse from 2014 to 2017, and was her party's mayoral candidate in Frankfurt in the 2018 mayoral election.

Christian Democratic Union of Germany

Christian Democratic Union of Germany

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and liberal conservative political party in Germany. It is the major catch-all party of the centre-right in German politics.

Janine Wissler

Janine Wissler

Janine Natalie Wißler, known professionally as Janine Wissler, is a German politician who has been co-chairwoman of The Left and member of the Bundestag for Hesse since 2021. Prior to that, she served as member of the Landtag of Hesse since 2008 and leader of the state parliamentary group since 2009, including as sole leader since 2014, as well as deputy leader of the federal party since 2014. She was one of The Left's lead candidates for the 2021 German federal election, alongside Dietmar Bartsch.

Independent politician

Independent politician

An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent.

Free Voters

Free Voters

Free Voters in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association (eV). In most cases, Free Voters campaign only at the local-government level, standing for city councils and for mayoralties. Free Voters tend to achieve their most successful electoral results in rural areas of southern Germany, appealing most to conservative voters who prefer local decisions to party politics. Free Voter groups are active in all German states.

Die PARTEI

Die PARTEI

Die Partei für Arbeit, Rechtsstaat, Tierschutz, Elitenförderung und basisdemokratische Initiative, or Die PARTEI, is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazine Titanic. It is led by Martin Sonneborn. In the 2014 European Parliament election, the party won a seat, marking the first time that a satirical party has won a seat to the European Parliament. With the 2019 European Parliament election the party gained a second seat, held by Nico Semsrott.

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Frankfurt is one of the world's most important financial hubs and Germany's financial capital, followed by Hamburg and Stuttgart. Frankfurt was ranked eighth at the International Financial Centers Development Index (2013), eighth at the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index (2008), ninth at the Global Financial Centres Index (September 2013),^[45] tenth at the Global Power City Index (2011), 11th at the Global City Competitiveness Index (2012), 12th at the Innovation Cities Index (2011),^[46] 14th at the World City Survey (2011) and 23rd at the Global Cities Index (2012).^[47]

The city's importance as a financial hub has risen since the eurozone crisis. Indications are the establishment of two institutions of the European System of Financial Supervisors (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and European Systemic Risk Board) in 2011 and the Single Supervisory Mechanism by which the European Central Bank was to assume responsibility for specific supervisory tasks related to the financial stability of the biggest and most important Eurozone banks.

According to an annual study by Cushman & Wakefield, the European Cities Monitor (2010), Frankfurt has been one of the top three cities for international companies in Europe, after London and Paris, since the survey started in 1990.^[48] It is the only German city considered to be an alpha world city (category 3) as listed by the Loughborough University group's 2010 inventory,^[49] which was a promotion from the group's 2008 inventory when it was ranked as an alpha minus world city (category 4).^[50]

With over 922 jobs per 1,000 inhabitants, Frankfurt has the highest concentration of jobs in Germany. On work days and Saturdays, one million people commute from all over the Rhein-Main-Area. The GRP per capita was €96,670 in 2019.^[51]

The city is expected to benefit from international banks relocating jobs from London to Frankfurt as a result of Brexit to retain access to the EU market.^[52][53] Thus far, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc., Standard Chartered Plc and Nomura Holdings Inc. announced they would move their EU headquarters to Frankfurt.^[53]

Central banks

The new headquarters of the European Central Bank in the Ostend district

Frankfurt is home to two important central banks: the German Bundesbank and the European Central Bank (ECB).^[54]

European Central Bank

Euro-Skulptur

The European Central Bank (Europäische Zentralbank) is one of the world's most important central banks. The ECB sets monetary policy for the Eurozone, consisting of 19 EU member states that have adopted the Euro (€) as their common currency. From 1998 the ECB Headquarters have been located in Frankfurt, first in the Eurotower at Willy-Brandt-Platz and in two other nearby high-rises. The new Seat of the European Central Bank in the Ostend district, consisting of the former wholesale market hall (Großmarkthalle) and a newly built 185-meter skyscraper, was completed in late 2014. The new building complex was designed to accommodate up to 2,300 ECB personnel. The location is a few kilometers away from downtown and borders an industrial area as well as the Osthafen (East Harbor), It was primarily chosen because of its large premises which allows the ECB to install security arrangements without high fences.

The city honors the importance of the ECB by officially using the slogan "The City of the Euro" since 1998.

Deutsche Bundesbank

The Deutsche Bundesbank (German Federal Bank), located in Ginnheim, was established in 1957 as the central bank for the Federal Republic of Germany. Until the euro (€) was introduced in 1999, the Deutsche Bundesbank was responsible for the monetary policy of Germany and for the German currency, the Deutsche Mark (DM). The Bundesbank was greatly respected for its control of inflation through the second half of the 20th century. Today the Bundesbank is an integral part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) which is formed by all 27 EU member states.

Commercial banks

Deutsche Bank Twin Towers

Westend Tower, also known as Westendstraße 1 or Crown Tower, headquarters of DZ Bank

Opernturm, headquarters of UBS Germany, at the Opernplatz

In 2010, 63 national and 152 international banks had a registered office, including the headquarters of the major German banks, as well as 41 offices of international banks.^[6] Frankfurt is therefore known as Bankenstadt ("City of the banks") and nicknamed "Mainhattan" (a portmanteau of the local Main river and Manhattan in New York City) or "Bankfurt". 73,200 people were employed at banks in 2010.

• Deutsche Bank — Germany's largest commercial bank. It had 15% share of private customers and total assets of €1,900 billion in 2010. Deutsche Bank ranks among the 30 largest banks in the world and the ten largest banks in Europe.^[55] Deutsche Bank is listed on the DAX, the stock market index of the 30 largest German business companies at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In November 2010 Deutsche Bank bought the majority of shares of competitor Postbank. Its headquarters are located at Taunusanlage in the financial district.
• DZ Bank — Central institution for more than 900 co-operative banks (Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken) and their 12,000 branch offices in Germany and is a corporate and investment bank. It is Germany's second-largest bank (total assets: €509 billion). The DZ Bank Group defines itself primarily as a service provider for the local Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken and their 30 million clients. The DZ Bank headquarters are the Westend Tower and the City-Haus at Platz der Republik. The DZ Bank Group includes Union Investment, DVB Bank and Reisebank, which are also headquartered in Frankfurt.
• KfW Bankengruppe — Government-owned development bank formed in 1948 as part of the Marshall Plan. KfW provides loans for approved purposes at lower rates than commercial banks, especially to medium-sized businesses. With total assets of €507 billion (2017), it is Germany's third-largest bank. The KfW headquarters are located in the Westend district at Bockenheimer Landstraße and Senckenberganlage.
• Commerzbank — Germany's fourth-largest bank by total assets (2017). In 2009, Commerzbank merged with competitor Dresdner Bank, then the third-largest German bank. Due to the merger and the higher credit risks, Commerzbank was 25% nationalized during the Great Recession. It is listed in the DAX. Its headquarters are at Commerzbank Tower (259 meters), the second-tallest building in the EU, at Kaiserplatz.
• Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen – Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen, or short Helaba, is a commercial bank owned by the states of Hesse and Thuringia (Landesbank). As such, it is a service provider for the local Sparkassen. Helaba is one of nine Landesbanken and is the fifth-largest in Germany. It is located in the 200-meter-tall Main Tower in the financial district, the only skyscraper in Frankfurt with an observation desk open to the public.
• DekaBank – DekaBank is the central asset manager of the Sparkassen in Germany. The headquarters of DekaBank are located at the Trianon skyscraper at Mainzer Landstraße.
• ING Diba Germany – Germany's largest direct bank, headquartered in Bockenheim

Other major German banks include Frankfurter Volksbank, the second-largest Volksbank in Germany, Frankfurter Sparkasse and old-established private banks such as Bankhaus Metzler, Hauck & Aufhäuser and Delbrück Bethmann Maffei.

Many international banks have a registered or a representative office, e.g., Credit Suisse, UBS, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of China, Banco do Brasil, Itaú Unibanco Société Générale, BNP Paribas, SEB, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays.

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Bull and bear in front of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse) began in the ninth century. By the 16th century Frankfurt had developed into an important European hub for trade fairs and financial services. Today the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is by far the largest in Germany, with a turnover of more than 90 percent of the German stock market and is the third-largest in Europe after the London Stock Exchange and the European branch of the NYSE Euronext. The most important stock market index is the DAX, the index of the 30 largest German business companies listed at the stock exchange. The stock exchange is owned and operated by Deutsche Börse, which is itself listed in the DAX. Deutsche Börse also owns the European futures exchange Eurex and clearing company Clearstream. Trading takes place exclusively via the Xetra trading system, with redundant floor brokers taking on the role of market-makers on the new platform.

On 1 February 2012 European Commission blocked the proposed merger of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext. "The merger between Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext would have led to a near-monopoly in European financial derivatives worldwide. These markets are at the heart of the financial system and it is crucial for the whole European economy that they remain competitive. We tried to find a solution, but the remedies offered fell far short of resolving the concerns."^[56] European competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia said.

It is located downtown at the Börsenplatz. Deutsche Börse's headquarters are formally registered in Frankfurt, but it moved most of its employees to a high-rise called "The Cube" in Eschborn in 2010, primarily due to significantly lower local corporate taxes.

Frankfurt Trade Fair

Messeturm seen from the trade fair premises

Frankfurt Trade Fair (Messe Frankfurt) has the third-largest exhibition site in the world with a total of 578,000 m² (6,220,000 sq ft) . The trade fair premises are located in the western part between Bockenheim, the Westend and the Gallus district. It houses ten exhibition halls with a total of 321,754 m² (3,463,330 sq ft) of space and 96,078 m² (1,034,170 sq ft) of outdoor space.

Hosted in Frankfurt are the Frankfurt Motor Show (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung – IAA), the world's largest auto show, the Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse), the world's largest book fair, the Ambiente Frankfurt, the world's largest consumer goods fair, the Achema, the world's largest plant engineering fair, and many more like Paperworld, Christmasworld, Beautyworld, Tendence Lifestyle or Light+Building.

Messe Frankfurt GmbH, the owner and operator company, organized 87 exhibitions in 2010, 51 thereof in foreign countries. It is one of the largest trade fair companies with commercial activities in over 150 countries.

Aviation

Two Lufthansa Airbus A380s at Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world and is also the single largest place of work in Germany with over 500 companies which employ 71,500 people (2010).^[57]

Fraport is the owner and operator of Frankfurt Airport. It is the airport's second-largest employer (19,800 workers in 2010).^[58] Fraport also operates other airports worldwide, e.g., King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima and Antalya Airport.

The largest company at Frankfurt Airport is Lufthansa, Germany's flag carrier and Europe's largest airline. Lufthansa employs 35,000 people in Frankfurt.^[59][60] The Lufthansa Aviation Center (LAC) is the main operation base of Lufthansa at Frankfurt Airport. The airport serves as Lufthansa's primary hub with 157 worldwide destinations (compared to 110 destinations at Munich Airport, Lufthansa's second-largest hub). Lufthansa Cargo is based in Frankfurt and operates its largest cargo center (LCC) at Frankfurt Airport. Lufthansa Flight Training is also based here.

Condor is a German airline based at Frankfurt Airport.

Other industries

Accountancy and professional services

Three of the four largest international accountancy and professional services firms (Big Four) are present.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) German headquarters are located at Tower 185. KPMG moved its European Headquarters (KPMG Europe LLP) to The Squaire. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu are present, while Ernst & Young is located in Eschborn.

Credit rating agencies

The three major international credit rating agencies – Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch Ratings – have their German headquarters in Frankfurt.

Investment trust companies

DWS Investments is the largest investment trust company in Germany and manages €288 billion fund assets. It is one of the 10 largest investment trust companies in the world.^[61] Other large investment trust companies are Allianz Global Investors Europe (a division of Allianz SE, and a top-five global active investment manager with €1,933 billion assets under management globally), Union Investment and Deka Investmentfonds.

Management consultancies

Many of the largest international management consultancies are represented, including Arthur D. Little, McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Booz & Company, Oliver Wyman, Bearing Point, Capgemini, Bain & Company and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.

Real estate services companies

Located in Frankfurt are the German headquarters of Jones Lang LaSalle and BNP Paribas Real Estate.

Law firms

Frankfurt has the highest concentration of lawyers in Germany, with one lawyer per 97 inhabitants (followed by Düsseldorf with a ratio of 1/117 and Munich with 1/124) in 2005.^[62]

Most of the large international law firms maintain offices, among them Allen & Overy, Baker & McKenzie, Bird & Bird, Clifford Chance, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Debevoise & Plimpton, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells, Jones Day, Latham & Watkins, Linklaters, Mayer Brown, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, Norton Rose, Shearman & Sterling, Sidley Austin, SJ Berwin, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Sullivan & Cromwell, K&L Gates, Taylor Wessing and White & Case.

Advertising agencies

Although it is best known for its banks and financial institutions, Frankfurt is also a media hub. Around 570 companies of the advertising industry and 270 public relations companies are there.

According to a ranking of German FOCUS magazine (November 2007) seven of the 48 largest advertising agencies in Germany are based in Frankfurt, including Havas, Dentsu, McCann-Erickson, Saatchi & Saatchi, JWT, and Publicis.^[63]

Food

Frankfurt is home to the German headquarters of Nestlé, the world's largest food company, located in Niederrad. Other important food companies are Ferrero SpA (German headquarters) and Radeberger Gruppe KG, the largest private brewery group in Germany.

Automotive

The South-Korean automobile manufacturer Kia Motors moved its European headquarters to Frankfurt in 2007. In the same year, Italian manufacturer Fiat opened its new German headquarters. The automotive supplier Continental AG has the headquarters and a major manufacturing plant of its Chassis & Safety division (formerly ITT Automotive) located in Frankfurt Rödelheim.

Construction

Some of the largest German construction companies have offices, e.g., Bilfinger Berger, Hochtief, Züblin and BAM Deutschland.

Property and real estate

Frankfurt has Germany's highest concentration of homeowners. This is partly attributed to the financial sector, but also to its cosmopolitan nature, with expatriates and immigrants representing one-fourth of its population. For this reason, Frankfurt's property market often operates differently than the rest of the country where the prices are generally flatter.

Tourism

Frankfurt is one of Germany's leading tourist destinations. In addition to its infrastructure and economy, its diversity supports a vibrant cultural scene. This blend of attractions led 4.3 million tourists (2012) to visit Frankfurt.^[64] The Hotels in central Frankfurt offer 34,000 beds in 228 hotels, of which 13 are luxury hotels and 46 are first-class hotels.^[65]

Other

Headquarters of Colt Technology Services and Nintendo of Europe in the Lyoner Quartier

Industriepark Höchst

Mainova heating plant

Frankfurt is home to companies from the chemical, transportation, telecommunication and energy industries. Some of the larger companies are:

• Industriepark Höchst — An industrial park in Höchst. It is one of Germany's largest with over 90 companies from the pharmaceutical, the chemical and the biotechnology industry, including Celanese, Clariant, BASF, Merck KGaA and Siemens. It was founded by chemical company Hoechst AG in 1874. At the beginning of the 1980s Hoechst AG was the largest pharmaceutical corporation and Industriepark Höchst was known as "the pharmacy of the world". Hoechst AG merged with Rhône-Poulenc to become Aventis in 1999 and in 2004 Aventis merged with Sanofi-Synthélabo to become Sanofi-Aventis. In 2005, around 22,000 people worked at Industriepark Höchst. In 2011, Ticona now part of Celanese, an international manufacturer of engineering polymers, moved to Industriepark Höchst.
• Deutsche Bahn – Deutsche Bahn subsidiaries DB Fernverkehr, DB Regio, DB Stadtverkehr, DB Netz, DB Schenker and the corporate development department of Deutsche Bahn are Frankfurt-based.
• Deutsche Telekom – Deutsche Telekom's subsidiary T-Systems is Frankfurt-based.
• COLT – telecommunications company with Frankfurt-based German headquarters
• Nintendo — In 2014, Nintendo of Europe moved its headquarters from Großostheim to Frankfurt.^[66]
• CenturyLink — internet service provider with German headquarters in Frankfurt
• DE-CIX – Frankfurt is an important location for electronic communication, especially the Internet. It is home to DE-CIX, the world's largest internet exchange point.
• Mainova – The largest regional energy supplier in Germany with about one million customers in Hesse. It provides electricity, gas, heat and water. Its headquarters are Frankfurt-based.

In addition, several cloud and fintech startups have their headquarters in Frankfurt.^[67]

Urban area (suburban) businesses

Within Frankfurt's urban area are several important companies.

The business hub of Eschborn is located right at Frankfurt's city limits in the west and attracts businesses with significantly lower corporate taxes compared to Frankfurt. Major companies in Eschborn include Ernst & Young, Vodafone Germany, Randstad Holding and VR Leasing. Deutsche Börse moved most of its employees to Eschborn in 2010.

Rüsselsheim is internationally known for its automobile manufacturer Opel, one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in Germany. With 20,000 employees in 2003, Opel was one of the five largest employers in Hesse.

Offenbach am Main is home to the European headquarters of automobile manufacturer Hyundai Motor Company, to the German headquarters of automobile manufacturer Honda, to Honeywell Germany and to Deutscher Wetterdienst, the central scientific agency that monitors weather and meteorological conditions over Germany.

Two DAX companies are located in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA and Fresenius Medical Care. Other major companies are Hewlett-Packard, Bridgestone, Deutsche Leasing and Basler Versicherungen.

Kronberg im Taunus is home of the German headquarters of automobile manufacturer Jaguar Cars as well as the German headquarters of Accenture.

Lufthansa Systems, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, is located in Kelsterbach.

LSG Sky Chefs, another subsidiary of Lufthansa, is located in Neu-Isenburg.

The German headquarters of Thomas Cook Group are based in Oberursel.

Langen is home to Deutsche Flugsicherung, the German air traffic control.

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Hamburg

Hamburg

Hamburg, officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin, as well as the overall 7th largest city and largest non-capital city in the European Union with a population of over 1.85 million. Hamburg is 941 km2 in area. Hamburg's urban area has a population of around 2.5 million and is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, which has a population of over 5.1 million people in total. The city lies on the River Elbe and two of its tributaries, the River Alster and the River Bille. One of Germany's 16 federated states, Hamburg is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south.

Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the Stuttgarter Kessel and lies an hour from the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest. Stuttgart has a population of 635,911, making it the sixth largest city in Germany. 2.8 million people live in the city's administrative region and 5.3 million people in its metropolitan area, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in Germany. The city and metropolitan area are consistently ranked among the top 20 European metropolitan areas by GDP; Mercer listed Stuttgart as 21st on its 2015 list of cities by quality of living; innovation agency 2thinknow ranked the city 24th globally out of 442 cities in its Innovation Cities Index; and the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ranked the city as a Beta-status global city in their 2020 survey. Stuttgart was one of the host cities for the official tournaments of the 1974 and 2006 FIFA World Cups.

Global Financial Centres Index

Global Financial Centres Index

The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) is a ranking of the competitiveness of financial centres based on over 29,000 financial centre assessments from an online questionnaire together with over 100 indices from organisations such as the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The first index was published in March 2007. It has been jointly published twice per year by Z/Yen Group in London and the China Development Institute in Shenzhen since 2015, and is widely quoted as a top source for ranking financial centres.

European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is a European Union financial regulatory institution that replaced the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS). It is established under EU Regulation 1094/2010.

European Systemic Risk Board

European Systemic Risk Board

The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) is a group established on 16 December 2010 in response to the ongoing financial crisis. It is tasked with the macro-prudential oversight of the financial system within the European Union in order to contribute to the prevention or mitigation of systemic risks to financial stability in the EU. It shall contribute to the smooth functioning of the internal market and thereby ensure a sustainable contribution of the financial sector to economic growth.

Single Supervisory Mechanism

Single Supervisory Mechanism

The Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) is the first pillar of the European banking union and is the legislative and institutional framework that grants the European Central Bank (ECB) a leading supervisory role over banks in the EU. The ECB directly supervises the larger banks while it does it indirectly for the smaller ones. Eurozone countries are required to participate, while participation is voluntary for non-eurozone EU member states. In October 2020, two non-Eurozone countries joined the European banking supervision mechanism through a process known as close cooperation: Bulgaria and Croatia. As of early 2021, the SSM directly supervises 115 banks across the Union, representing almost 82% of banking assets of these countries. The SSM, along with the Single Resolution Mechanism are the two central components of the European banking union.

Eurozone

Eurozone

The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 20 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies.

Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield plc is a global commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois.

Loughborough University

Loughborough University

Loughborough University is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when Loughborough Technical Institute began with a focus on skills directly applicable in the wider world. In March 2013, the university announced it had bought the former broadcast centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a second campus. The annual income of the institution for 2021–22 was £328 million of which £39.2 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £379.4 million.

Central bank

Central bank

A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the monetary base. Most central banks also have supervisory and regulatory powers to ensure the stability of member institutions, to prevent bank runs, and to discourage reckless or fraudulent behavior by member banks.

Twin towns – sister cities

Frankfurt is twinned with:^[68]

Friendly cities

Frankfurt has friendly relations with:^[68]

• Cairo, Egypt (1979)
• Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan (2011)

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Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West Midlands metropolitan county, and approximately 4.3 million in the wider metropolitan area. It is the largest UK metropolitan area outside of London. Birmingham is commonly referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom.

Hungary

Hungary

Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning 93,030 square kilometres (35,920 sq mi) of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and Slovenia to the southwest, and Austria to the west. Hungary has a population of 9.7 million, mostly ethnic Hungarians and a significant Romani minority. Hungarian, the official language, is the world's most widely spoken Uralic language and among the few non-Indo-European languages widely spoken in Europe. Budapest is the country's capital and largest city; other major urban areas include Debrecen, Szeged, Miskolc, Pécs, and Győr.

Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of 1,752,286 over a land area of about 525 square kilometres. Budapest, which is both a city and county, forms the centre of the Budapest metropolitan area, which has an area of 7,626 square kilometres and a population of 3,303,786; it is a primate city, constituting 33% of the population of Hungary.

France

France

France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. It also includes overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, giving it one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea; overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Its eighteen integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi) and had a total population of over 68 million as of January 2023. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre; other major urban areas include Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, Bordeaux, and Nice.

Deuil-la-Barre

Deuil-la-Barre

Deuil-la-Barre is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the Department of Val-d'Oise and the arrondissement of Sarcelles. It is 13.7 km (8.5 mi) from the centre of Paris. Despite this proximity to the metropolis, Deuil has retained much of the charm of a country village, with orchards and wooded hillsides.

Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Established in the 18th century as a small fishing village, the city grew rapidly in the early 21st century with a focus on tourism and luxury, having the second most five-star hotels in the world, and the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, which is 828 metres (2,717 ft) tall.

Emirate of Dubai

Emirate of Dubai

The Emirate of Dubai is one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates. It is the most populous emirate of the UAE. The capital of the emirate is the eponymous city, Dubai.

Eskişehir

Eskişehir

Eskişehir is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the Porsuk River, 792 m above sea level, where it overlooks the fertile Phrygian Valley. In the nearby hills one can find hot springs. The city is 233 km (145 mi) to the west of Ankara, 330 km (205 mi) to the southeast of Istanbul and 78 km (48 mi) to the northeast of Kütahya. It is located in the vicinity of the ancient city of Dorylaeum. Known as a university town; Eskişehir Technical University, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, and Anadolu University are based in Eskişehir. The province covers an area of 2,678 km2 (1,034 sq mi).

Eskişehir Province

Eskişehir Province

Eskişehir Province is a province in northwestern Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Bilecik to the northwest, Kütahya to the west, Afyon to the southwest, Konya to the south, Ankara to the east, and Bolu to the north. The provincial capital is Eskişehir. Most of the province is laid down in Central Anatolia Region. Northern parts of Mihalıççık district and ones of Mihalgazi and Sarıcakaya are located in the Black Sea Region and one of them belong to the Aegean Region.

Granada, Nicaragua

Granada, Nicaragua

Granada is a city in western Nicaragua and the capital of the Granada Department. With an estimated population of 104,980 (2021), it is Nicaragua's ninth most populous city. Granada is historically one of Nicaragua's most important cities, economically and politically. It has a rich colonial heritage, seen in its architecture and structure.

Granada Department

Granada Department

Granada is a department in Nicaragua. It covers an area of 1040 km2 and has a population of 215,965. The capital is the city of Granada, one of North America's oldest cities.

China

China

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land, the most of any country in the world, tied with Russia. With an area of approximately 9.6 million square kilometres (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the world's third largest country by total land area. The country consists of 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two special administrative regions. The national capital is Beijing, and the most populous city and largest financial center is Shanghai.

Landmarks

Römer

Römer, the city hall

Römer, the German word for Roman, is a complex of nine houses that form the Frankfurt city hall (Rathaus). The houses were acquired by the city council in 1405 from a wealthy merchant family. The middle house became the city hall and was later connected with its neighbors. The Kaisersaal ("Emperor's Hall") is located on the upper floor and is where the newly crowned emperors held their banquets. The Römer was partially destroyed in World War II and later rebuilt. The surrounding square, the Römerberg, is named after the city hall.

The New Frankfurt Old Town was completed in 2018, including 15 reconstructed historical buildings.

The former Altstadt (old town) quarter between the Römer and the Frankfurt Cathedral was redeveloped as the Dom-Römer Quarter from 2012 to 2018, including 15 reconstructions of historical buildings that were destroyed during World War II.

Frankfurt Cathedral

Frankfurt Cathedral (Frankfurter Dom) is not a cathedral, but the main Catholic church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew. The Gothic building was constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries on the foundation of an earlier church from the Merovingian time. From 1356 onwards, kings of the Holy Roman Empire were elected in this church, and from 1562 to 1792, Roman-German emperors were crowned there.

Since the 18th century, St. Bartholomew's has been called Dom, although it was never a bishop's seat. In 1867 it was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in its present style. It was again partially destroyed in World War II and rebuilt in the 1950s. Its height is 95 meters. The cathedral tower has a viewing platform open to the public at a height of 66 meters, accessed through a narrow spiral staircase with 386 steps.

Frankfurt Cathedral

Römerberg

St. Paul's Church

St. Paul's Church

St. Paul's Church (Paulskirche) is a national historic monument in Germany because it was the seat of the first democratically elected parliament in 1848. It was established in 1789 as a Protestant church, but was not completed until 1833. Its importance has its roots in the Frankfurt Parliament, which met in the church during the revolutionary years of 1848/49 in order to write a constitution for a united Germany. The attempt failed because the monarchs of Prussia and Austria did not want to lose power. In 1849, Prussian troops ended the democratic experiment by force and the parliament dissolved; the building was once more used for religious services.

St. Paul's was partially destroyed in World War II, particularly its interior, which now has a modern appearance. It was quickly and symbolically rebuilt after the war; today it is used mainly for exhibitions and events.

Archäologischer Garten Frankfurt

The Archaeological Garden contains small parts of the oldest recovered buildings: an ancient Roman settlement and the Frankfurt Royal Palace (Kaiserpfalz Frankfurt) from the sixth century. The garden is located between the Römerberg and the cathedral. It was discovered after World War II when the area was heavily bombed and later partly rebuilt. The remains were preserved and are now open to the public. From 2013 until 2015 an event building, the Stadthaus ("City house"), has been built on top of the garden, but it remains open to the public free of charge.

Haus Wertheim

Wertheim House is the only timbered house in the Altstadt district that survived the heavy bombings of World War II undamaged. It is located on the Römerberg next to the Historical Museum.

Saalhof

The Saalhof is the oldest conserved building in the Altstadt district and dates to the 12th century. It was used as an exhibition hall by Dutch clothiers when trade fairs were held during the 14th and 15th centuries. The Saalhof was partly destroyed in World War II and later rebuilt. Today it serves as a part of the Historical Museum.

Eiserner Steg

The Eiserner Steg (Iron Bridge) is a pedestrian-only bridge across the Main that connects Römerberg and Sachsenhausen. It was built in 1868 and was the second bridge to cross the river. After World War II, when it was blown up by the Wehrmacht, it was quickly rebuilt in 1946. Today some 10,000 people cross the bridge on a daily basis.

Alte Oper

Alte Oper, now a concert hall, at Opernplatz

The Alte Oper is a former opera house, hence the name "Old Opera". The opera house was built in 1880 by architect Richard Lucae. It was one of the major opera houses in Germany until it was heavily damaged in World War II. Until the late 1970s, it was a ruin, nicknamed "Germany's most beautiful ruin". Former Frankfurt Lord Mayor Rudi Arndt called for blowing it up in the 1960s, which earned him the nickname "Dynamite-Rudi". (Later on, Arndt said he never had meant his suggestion seriously.)

Public pressure led to its refurbishment and reopening in 1981. Today, it functions as a famous concert hall, while operas are performed at the "new" Frankfurt Opera. The inscription on the frieze of the Alte Oper says: "Dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten" ("To the true, the beautiful, the good").

Eschenheimer Turm

The Eschenheim Tower (Eschenheimer Turm) was erected at the beginning of the 15th century and served as a city gate as part of late-medieval fortifications. It is the oldest and most unaltered building in the Innenstadt district.

St. Catherine's Church

St. Catherine's Church (Katharinenkirche) is the largest Protestant church, dedicated to Catherine of Alexandria, a martyred early Christian saint. It is located downtown at the entrance to the Zeil, the central pedestrian shopping street.

Hauptwache

Although today Hauptwache is mostly associated with the inner-city underground train station of the same name, the name originates from a baroque building on the square above the station. The Hauptwache building was constructed in 1730 and was used as a prison, therefore the name that translates as "main guard-house". Today the square surrounding the building is also called "Hauptwache" (formal: An der Hauptwache). It is situated downtown opposite to St. Catherine's Church and houses a famous café.

Hauptwache and St. Catherine's Church

Eschenheimer Turm

Frankfurt Central Station

Central Station

Frankfurt Central Station (Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof), which opened in 1888, was built as the central train station for Frankfurt to replace three smaller downtown train stations and to boost the needed capacity for travellers. It was constructed as a terminus station and was the largest train station in Europe by floor area until 1915 when Leipzig Central Station was opened. Its three main halls were constructed in a neorenaissance-style, while the later enlargement with two outer halls in 1924 was constructed in neoclassic-style.

Frankfurter Hof

The Frankfurter Hof is a landmark downtown hotel at Kaiserplatz, built from 1872 to 1876. It is part of Steigenberger Hotels group and is considered the city's most prestigious.

St. Leonhard

St. Leonhard, on the Main close to the bridge Eiserner Steg, is a Catholic late Gothic hall church, derived from a Romanesque style basilica beginning in 1425. It is the only one of nine churches in the Old Town that survived World War II almost undamaged. The parish serves the English-speaking community. The church has been under restoration from 2011 until 2019.^[70]

20th-century architecture

• Frauenfriedenskirche and Holy Cross Church), both consecrated in 1929, are examples of early modernist church buildings during the time of the New Frankfurt.
• Großmarkthalle, built 1926–1928 as a part of the New Frankfurt-project, the former wholesale market hall was repaired after the second world war and integrated into the new seat of the European Central Bank between 2010 and 2014.
• Goethe House, rebuilt 1947. The birthplace of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from 1749 was destroyed in World War II and then rebuilt true to the original.
• Junior-Haus, built 1951, an example of early post-World War II architecture located at Kaiserplatz.
• Bayer-Haus, built 1952, another example of early post-World War II architecture.
• Museum für angewandte Kunst, built 1985, designed by Richard Meier.
• IG Farben Building – Also known as Poelzig Building (Poelzig-Bau) after its architect Hans Poelzig, it was built from 1928 to 1930 as the corporate headquarters of I.G. Farbenindustrie AG. It is located in the Westend district and borders Grüneburgpark in the west. Upon its completion, the complex was the largest office building in Europe and remained so until the 1950s. The building served as headquarters for research projects relating to the development of synthetic oil and rubber and the manufacturing of magnesium, lubricating oil, explosives, methanol, and Zyklon B, the lethal gas used in concentration camps.^[71][72] After World War II, it served as the headquarters for the Supreme Allied Command and from 1949 to 1952 the High Commissioner for Germany (HICOG). It became the principal location for implementing the Marshall Plan, which largely financed the post-war reconstruction of Europe. The state apparatus of the Federal German Government was devised there. It served as the headquarters for the US Army's V Corps and the Northern Area Command (NACOM) until 1995 when the US Army returned control of the IG Farben Building to the German government. It was purchased on behalf of the Goethe University Frankfurt by the state of Hesse. In October 2001 it became part of the Westend Campus of Goethe University.

IG Farben Building, now the central lecture building of the Westend Campus of the Goethe University

21st-century architecture

The Squaire in 2017

• Die Welle (The Wave), built 1998–2003, a complex of three wavelike-formed office buildings next to the Opernplatz.
• Alte Stadtbibliothek, rebuilt 2003–2005, reconstruction of the old public library house originally built 1820–1825.
• Palais Thurn und Taxis, rebuilt 2004–2009, reconstruction of a palace originally built 1731–1739.
• MyZeil, built 2004–2009, shopping mall at the Zeil with an imposing vaulted glass-structure.
• The Squaire (portmanteau of square and air), also known as Airrail Center Frankfurt, is a 660 m (2,165.35 ft) long and 45 m (147.64 ft) tall office building located at Frankfurt Airport. It was built from 2006 to 2011 on top of an existing railway station (Frankfurt Airport long distance Station) and has a connecting bridge to Terminal 1 for pedestrians. Its total of 140,000 m² (1,506,947 sq ft) rentable floor space makes it Germany's largest office building.

Skyscrapers

Upper section of the Main Tower with a public observation deck at 200 meters (660 ft)

Frankfurt is one of the few European cities with a significant number of skyscrapers, (buildings at least 150 m (492.13 ft) tall). It hosts 18 out of Germany's 19 skyscrapers. Most skyscrapers and high-rise office buildings are located in the financial district (Bankenviertel) near downtown, around the trade fair premises (Europaviertel) and at Mainzer Landstraße between Opernplatz and Platz der Republik, which connects the two areas.

The 18 skyscrapers are:

• Commerzbank Tower, 259.0 m (849.74 ft) – The EU's tallest building; Commerzbank headquarters.
• Messeturm, 256.5 m (841.54 ft) – The EU's second-tallest building, the tallest building in Europe 1990–1997; main tenant is Goldman Sachs (Germany).
• Westend Tower, 208.0 m (682.41 ft) – DZ Bank headquarters
• Main Tower, 200.0 m (656.17 ft) – Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen and Standard & Poor's (Germany) headquarters
• Tower 185, 200.0 m (656.17 ft) – PricewaterhouseCoopers (Germany) headquarters
• ONE , 191 m (626.64 ft)
• Omniturm, 190.0 m (623.36 ft)
• Trianon, 186.0 m (610.24 ft) – DekaBank headquarters
• Seat of the European Central Bank, 185.0 m (606.96 ft) – European Central Bank headquarters
• Grand Tower, 179.9 m (590.22 ft) – Residential tower
• Opernturm, 170.0 m (557.74 ft) – UBS (Germany) headquarters
• Taunusturm, 170.0 m (557.74 ft)
• Silberturm, 166.3 m (545.60 ft) – Germany's tallest building 1978–1990, Main tenant is Deutsche Bahn.
• Westend Gate, 159.3 m (522.64 ft) – Germany's tallest building 1976–1978, Main tenant is Marriott Frankfurt Hotel.
• Deutsche Bank I, 155.0 m (508.53 ft) – Deutsche Bank headquarters
• Deutsche Bank II, 155.0 m (508.53 ft)
• Marienturm, 155.0 m (508.53 ft)
• Skyper, 153.8 m (504.59 ft) – Main tenant is DekaBank.

Other high-rise buildings include:

• Eurotower, 148.0 m (485.56 ft) – Former European Central Bank headquarters
• Frankfurter Büro Center, 142.4 m (467.19 ft) – Main tenant is Clifford Chance (Germany).
• City-Haus, 142.1 m (466.21 ft) – Main tenant is DZ Bank.
• Gallileo, 136.0 m (446.19 ft) – Main tenant is Commerzbank.

Frankfurt skyline in June 2013, view from south-west

History of high-rise buildings

Skyline at dusk, seen from Deutschherrnbrücke (2014)

For centuries, St. Bartholomeus's Cathedral was the tallest structure. The first building to exceed the 95-meter-high cathedral was not an office building but a grain silo, the 120 m-high (390 ft) Henninger Turm, built from 1959 to 1961.

The first high-rise building boom came in the 1970s when Westend Gate (then called Plaza Büro Center) and Silberturm were constructed and became the tallest buildings in Germany with a height of 159.3 meters and 166.3 meters, respectively. Around the same time, Frankfurter Büro Center and City-Haus (142.4 meters and 142.1 meters) were constructed at Mainzer Landstraße and Eurotower (148.0 meters) and Garden Tower (127.0 meters; then called Helaba-Hochhaus) were constructed in the financial district.

None of the buildings constructed during the 1980s surpassed Silberturm. The most famous buildings from this decade are the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers at Taunusanlage, both 155.0 meters tall.

The 1990s featured a second wave. Messeturm, built on the trade fair site, reached a height of 256.5 meters (842 ft) and became the tallest building in Europe by 1991. It was overtaken by the 259 m-high (850 ft) Commerzbank Tower in 1997. Other tall buildings from this decade are Westendstrasse 1 (208 meters (682 ft)), Main Tower (200 meters (660 ft)) and Trianon (186 meters (610 ft)).

In 21st-century Frankfurt, more high-rise buildings and skyscrapers (e.g., Skyper, Opernturm, Tower 185, Seat of the European Central Bank, Taunusturm) emerged, but none have surpassed Commerzbank Tower.

Other tall structures

Top of the Europaturm, a 337 m (1,106 ft) communications tower

• Europaturm — The Europe Tower is a telecommunications tower, also known as the Frankfurt TV Tower, built from 1974 to 1979. With a height of 337.5 meters it is the tallest tower and the second tallest structure in Germany after the Fernsehturm Berlin. It was open to the public until 1999, with an entertainment establishment in the revolving top. It is normally referred to by locals as the "Ginnheimer Spargel" (Ginnheim Asparagus), but stands a few meters within Bockenheim district.
• Henninger Turm — The Henninger Tower was a 120-mete-high grain silo built from 1959 to 1961 and owned by Henninger Brewery. It was the highest structure until 1974. The Henninger Tower had two rotating restaurants at the height of 101 and 106 meters and an open-air observation deck at the height of 110 meters. The tower closed to the public in October 2002 and was demolished in 2013 to be replaced by a 140 m (459 ft) tall residential tower, which is externally inspired by the old Henninger Turm. The cornerstone for this project was laid in June 2014 and construction was completed in summer 2017. The new tower offers 207 luxury flats^[73] and houses the non-rotating restaurant "Franziska". From 1962 to 2008 a famous yearly cycling race was named after the tower, the "Radrennen Rund um den Henninger Turm" (Cycling race around Henninger Tower). The now-renamed race is still a yearly event.
• Goetheturm – The Goethe Tower was a 43 m-high (141 ft) tower on the northern edge of the Frankfurt City Forest in Sachsenhausen. It was the fifth tallest wood construction structure in Germany. It was built in 1931 and was a popular place for day-trippers until it burned down in 2017. A faithful reconstruction has been opened to the public on 12 October 2020, exactly three years after the original's destruction.^[74]

Shopping streets

Zeil, Frankfurt's central shopping street

• Zeil – Frankfurt's central shopping street. It is a pedestrian-only area and is bordered by two large public squares, Hauptwache in the west and Konstablerwache in the east. It is the second most expensive street for shops to rent in Germany after the Kaufingerstraße in Munich. 85 percent of the shops are retail chains such as H&M, Saturn, Esprit, Zara or NewYorker. In 2009 a new shopping mall named MyZeil opened there with nearly 100 stores and chains like Hollister. Three more shopping malls occupy the Zeil: UpperZeil (replacing the Zeilgalerie, which was demolished in 2016), Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt, as well as large fashion retail clothing stores from Peek & Cloppenburg and C&A. During the month before Christmas, the extended pedestrian-only zone is host to Frankfurt Christmas Market, one of the largest and oldest Christmas markets in Germany.
• Goethestraße – Frankfurt's most expensive shopping street with prestigious shops like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Tiffany, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Cartier, Burberry, Vertu and Bulgari. It is located between the financial district and downtown, running from Goetheplatz to Opernplatz.
• Freßgass – (officially Kalbächer Gasse and Große Bockenheimer Straße) is a central pedestrian-only street section between Börsenstraße and Opernplatz. The name translates as "feeding alley" because of its high concentration of gastronomy, but lately prestigious shops (e.g., Apple Store, Hugo Boss, Porsche Design) have moved here due to the lack of space in the neighboring Goethestraße, displacing old, established restaurants, butchers and delicatessens.
• Berger Straße – Frankfurt's longest shopping street. It starts in the city center, runs through Nordend and Bornheim and ends in Seckbach. The street is less crowded than the Zeil and offers a greater variety of smaller shops, restaurants and cafés.
• Leipziger Straße – Central shopping street in the Bockenheim district starting at Bockenheimer Warte going towards West. High density of shops for daily needs.
• Braubachstraße – In the Altstadt district, close to the historic sites of the city, offers a large variety of art galleries, second-hand bookshops and antique shops.
• Münchener Straße – In the Bahnhofsviertel district, located between the central station and Willy-Brandt-Platz, is the most multicultural shopping street with many shops selling imported products mainly from Turkey, the Middle East and Asia.
• Kaiserstraße – One of the best-known streets and considered one of the most beautiful because of its amount of Gründerzeit-style buildings. It runs parallel to Münchener Straße from the central station to the financial district. Kaiserstraße is still a synonym for Frankfurt's Red-light district although sex-oriented businesses moved to neighboring streets such as Taunusstrasse [de] in the 1990s. Today Kaiserstraße houses many small shops, restaurants and cafés.
• Kleinmarkthalle – (literally: Small Market Hall) is a market hall close to Konstablerwache square offering fresh food and flowers. In addition to regional delicacies like green sauce imported goods are offered. The Kleinmarkthalle is the largest public marketplace in Frankfurt.

Sidewalk cafés at Fressgass

Shopping mall MyZeil

Luxury shopping at Goethestraße

Green city

Frankfurt City Forest

With a large forest, many parks, the Main riverbanks and the two botanical gardens, Frankfurt is considered a "green city": More than 50 percent of the area within the city limits are protected green areas.^[75]

• Frankfurter Grüngürtel – The Green Belt is a ring-shaped public green space around the city. With 8,000 ha it covers a third of the administrative area. It includes the Frankfurter Stadtwald (Frankfurt City Forest, Germany's largest forest within a city), the Schwanheimer Düne (Schwanheim Dune), the Niddatal (Nidda Valley), the Niddapark, the Lohrberg (Lohr Mountain, Frankfurt's only vineyard), the Huthpark, the Enkheimer Ried (Enkheim Marsh), the Seckbacher Ried (Seckbach Marsh) and the Fechenheimer Mainbogen (a S-shaped part of the Main river in Fechenheim). The Green Belt is a protected area which means that housing is not allowed. The Green Belt was formally created in 1991 with its own constitution.
• Mainuferpark – The Mainuferpark (Main Riverbanks Park) is the common term to describe the inner-city Main riverbanks. It is an auto-free zone with large green areas that is popular with strollers and tourists, especially in the summertime, when it can become crowded. The southern riverbank, which continues further to Offenbach am Main and Hanau, offers the best skyline views. The northern riverbank ends in the west at the former Westhafen (West Harbor, a residential housing area) and is growing to the east: A former industrial-used area between the new Seat of the European Central Bank and the Osthafen (East Harbor) has become a park named Hafenpark (Harbor Park), which offers outdoor courts for basketball, soccer and a skatepark.
• Wallanlagen – The Wallanlagen (former ramparts) relate to the former ring-shaped city wall fortifications around the Altstadt and the Innenstadt district (abolished 1804–1812), now a series of parks. Building is not allowed, with a few exceptions, the most famous being the Alte Oper (built 1880) at the Opernplatz. The part between the northern Main riverbank and the Opernplatz, referred to officially as Taunusanlage and Gallusanlage, is locally known as "Central Park" (a reference to the famous park in Manhattan), because of the skyscrapers which stand on both sides.
• Nizza Park – At the juncture of the northern Main riverbank and the Wallanlagen is a famous small park called Nizza. The name of the park recalls Nice in southern France, because it is one of the warmest areas with a nearly mediterranean climate. Numerous Mediterranean flora grow there and can survive outside during the winter.
• Garten des Himmlischen Friedens – "Garden of Heavenly Peace", named after the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, is a Chinese-styled park in the Nordend district and part of the larger Bethmannpark. It contains Chinese buildings, with building materials imported from China and built by Chinese workers in the 1980s. Hosts traditional Chinese plants and herbs.
• Other parks – The largest parks are the Niddapark (168 ha), the Ostpark (32 ha) and the Grüneburgpark (29 ha).

Discover more about Cityscape related topics

Römer

Römer

The Römer 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, to the city council on 11 March 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.

Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy. It is also the capital of the Lazio region, the centre of the Metropolitan City of Rome, and a special comune named Comune di Roma Capitale. With 2,860,009 residents in 1,285 km2 (496.1 sq mi), Rome is the country's most populated comune and the third most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. The Metropolitan City of Rome, with a population of 4,355,725 residents, is the most populous metropolitan city in Italy. Its metropolitan area is the third-most populous within Italy. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio (Latium), along the shores of the Tiber. Vatican City is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city. Rome is often referred to as the City of Seven Hills due to its geographic location, and also as the "Eternal City". Rome is generally considered to be the "cradle of Western civilization and Christian culture", and the centre of the Catholic Church.

Altstadt (Frankfurt am Main)

Altstadt (Frankfurt am Main)

The Altstadt is a quarter (Stadtteil) of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Innenstadt I.

Reconstruction (architecture)

Reconstruction (architecture)

Reconstruction in architectural conservation is the returning of a place to a known earlier state by the introduction of new materials. It is related to the architectural concepts of restoration and preservation, wherein the most extensive form of reconstruction is creating a replica of a destroyed building.

Frankfurt Cathedral

Frankfurt Cathedral

Frankfurt Cathedral, officially Imperial Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew is a Roman Catholic Gothic church located in the heart of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is dedicated to Saint Bartholomew.

Bartholomew the Apostle

Bartholomew the Apostle

Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Some identify Bartholomew as Nathanael or Nathaniel, who appears in the Gospel of John, although this is not supported by the Gospels, Acts, or any early, reliable Christian tradition.

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture. It originated in the Île-de-France and Picardy regions of northern France. The style at the time was sometimes known as opus Francigenum ; the term Gothic was first applied contemptuously during the later Renaissance, by those ambitious to revive the architecture of classical antiquity.

Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.

World War II

World War II

World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. Many participants threw their economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind this total war, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and the delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war.

Römerberg (Frankfurt)

Römerberg (Frankfurt)

Römerberg is a public space in Frankfurt, Germany. It is located in front of the Römer building complex, seat of the Frankfurt city administration since the 15th century. As the site of numerous imperial coronations, trade fairs and Christmas markets, the square is the historic heart of the medieval Altstadt and today a popular tourist destination.

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Museums

The Städel

Senckenberg Natural History Museum

With more than 30 museums, Frankfurt has one of the largest variety of museums in Europe. Most museums are part of the Museumsufer, located on the front row of both sides of the Main riverbank or nearby, which was created on an initiative by cultural politician Hilmar Hoffmann.^[76]

Ten museums are located on the southern riverbank in Sachsenhausen between the Eiserner Steg and the Friedensbrücke. The street itself, Schaumainkai, is partially closed to traffic on Saturdays for Frankfurt's largest flea market.

• Deutsches Architekturmuseum (German Architecture Museum)
• Deutsches Filmmuseum (German Film Museum)
• Deutsches Romantik-Museum
• Frankfurter Ikonenmuseum (Icon Museum Frankfurt)
• Liebieghaus (Museum of sculptures)
• Museum Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts)
• Museum Giersch (Museum for Regional Art)
• Museum für Kommunikation (Museum of Communications)
• Museum der Weltkulturen (Museum of World Cultures)
• Städel, one of the most famous art museums in Germany
• Museum für elektronische Musik (Museum of Modern Electronic Music)
• Bibelhaus Erlebnis Museum (Bible House Experience Museum)

Two museums are located on the northern riverbank:

• Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt (Jewish Museum Frankfurt)
• Historisches Museum Frankfurt (Historical Museum Frankfurt)

Not directly located on the northern riverbank in the Altstadt district are:

• Museum für Moderne Kunst (Museum of Modern Art)
• Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (Schirn Art Gallery Frankfurt)
• Frankfurter Kunstverein (Art Association Frankfurt)
• Museum Judengasse (Jews' Alley Museum)
• Goethe-Haus (Goethe House)
• Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt (Archaeological Museum Frankfurt)
• Caricatura Museum für Komische Kunst (Caricatura Museum of Comic Art)
• Dommuseum Frankfurt (Frankfurt Cathedral Museum)

Another important museum is located in the Westend district:

• Naturmuseum Senckenberg (Senckenberg Natural History Museum), the second-largest natural history museum in Germany

Other museums are the Dialogmuseum (Dialogue Museum) in the Ostend district, Eintracht Frankfurt Museum at Deutsche Bank Park, the Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum (Light Railway Museum Frankfurt) in the Gallus district, the Verkehrsmuseum Frankfurt (Transport Museum Frankfurt) in the Schwanheim district, the Hammer Museum in the Bahnhofsviertel district and the Geldmuseum der Deutschen Bundesbank (Money Museum of the German Federal Bank) in the Ginnheim district. The Explora Museum+Wissenschaft+Technik (Explora Museum of Science and Engineering) in the Nordend district was closed in 2016. Most museums open around 10:00 am local time, and it is possible to comfortably visit four museums in one day, a fact many tourists take advantage of.

Performing arts

Music

Eurodance and Trance music originated in Frankfurt. In 1989 German producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti (under the pseudonyms Benito Benites and John "Virgo" Garrett III) formed the Snap! project. Snap! songs combined Rap and Soul vocals adding rhythm by using computer technology and mixing electronic sounds, bass and drums. By doing so a new genre was born: Eurodance.^[77] In the early 1990s, DJs including Sven Väth and DJ DAG (of Dance 2 Trance) first played a harder, deeper style of acid house that became popular worldwide over the next decade as Trance music. Some of the early and most influential Eurodance, Trance and Techno acts, e.g., La Bouche, Jam and Spoon, Magic Affair, Culture Beat, Snap!, Dance 2 Trance, Oliver Lieb and Hardfloor, and record labels such as Harthouse and Eye Q, were based in the city in the early 1990s.

Venues

Festhalle Frankfurt

The English Theatre

• Oper Frankfurt – A leading Germany opera company and one of Europe's most important. It was elected Opera house of the year (of Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland) by German magazine Opernwelt in 1995, 1996 and 2003. It was also elected Best opera house in Germany in 2010 and 2011. Its orchestra was voted Orchestra of the year in 2009, 2010 and 2011.^[78]
• Schauspiel Frankfurt – Theater at Willy-Brandt-Platz in the financial district, next to the Frankfurt Opera.
• Frankfurt Radio Symphony (hr-Sinfonieorchester in German) – one of the top symphony orchestras in the world
• Festhalle Frankfurt – Multi-purpose hall next to the Messeturm at the grounds of the Frankfurt Trade Fair. It is mostly used for concerts, exhibitions or sport events and can accommodate up to 13,500.
• Deutsche Bank Park – Frankfurt's largest sports stadium and one of Germany's ten largest. It is located in the Frankfurt City Forest near Niederrad. It is primarily used for soccer and concerts with a capacity up to 51,500. It opened in 1925 and underwent several major reconstructions. Locals still prefer to call the stadium by its traditional name, Waldstadion (Forest Stadium).
• Alte Oper – A major concert hall.
• Jahrhunderthalle – Century Hall is a large concert and exhibition hall in Unterliederbach district. Sometimes referred to as "Jahrhunderthalle Höchst", because it was built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the chemical company Hoechst AG in 1963.
• The English Theatre – Located on the ground floor of the Gallileo high-rise building, this is the largest English theater in continental Europe. It was established in 1979.
• Tigerpalast – Tiger Palace is a varieté near the Zeil. It was established in 1988 and houses the famous Tiger-Restaurant which was awarded a Michelin star.
• Künstlerhaus Mousonturm – House of Artists Mouson Tower has a smaller budget than traditional theaters and uses more unconventional performing methods. It is located in an old factory in the Ostend district.
• Die Schmiere – The Grease is a cabaret and Frankfurt's oldest privately owned theater. It is located in the Karmeliterkloster in the Altstadt district. According to its own advertising, it is the worst theater in the world.
• Die Komödie – The Comedy is a boulevard theater near downtown Frankfurt's Willy-Brandt-Platz.

Botanical gardens

Palmengarten

Frankfurt is home to two major botanical gardens:

• Palmengarten – Located in the Westend district, it is Hesse's largest botanical garden, covering 22 ha (54 acres). It opened to the public in 1871. The botanical exhibits are organized according to their origin in free-air or in greenhouses that host tropical and subtropical plants, hence the name "Palm Garden".
• Botanischer Garten der Goethe-Universität – The university's botanical garden is also an arboretum. It contains about 5,000 species, with special collections of Rubus (45 species) and indigenous plants of central Europe. It is organized into two major areas: The geobotanical area contains an alpine garden, arboretum, meadows, steppes, marsh, and a pond, as well as collections of plants from the Canary Islands, Caucasus, East Asia, Mediterranean, and North America and the systematic and ecological collection includes crop plants, endangered species, ornamental plants, roses, and the Neuer Senckenbergischer Arzneipflanzengarten (New Senckenberg Medicinal Plant Garden), which measures 1,200 m² (13,000 sq ft). The Botanical Garden, Palmengarten, Grüneburgpark collectively form the largest inner-city green area.

Foreign culture

• Instituto Cervantes – Named after Miguel de Cervantes, one of the most important Spanish authors, this is the world's largest organization for promoting the study and teaching of Spanish language and culture. 54 such Centros Cervantes across the world offer Spanish language and history courses. The Frankfurt branch was officially opened in September 2008 by Felipe, Prince of Asturias and his wife Letizia, Princess of Asturias. It is located in the so-called Amerika-Haus.[1]
• Institut Français – A French public industrial and commercial organization (EPIC), started in 1907 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for promoting French, francophone as well as local cultures around the world. The French Institute works closely with the French cultural network abroad consisting of more than 150 branches and nearly 1,000 branches of the Alliance française around the world.[2]
• Istituto Italiano di Cultura – A worldwide non-profit organization created by the Italian government. It promotes Italian culture and is involved in the teaching of the Italian language; there are 83 Italian Cultural Institutes throughout major cities around the world.[3]
• Confucius Institute – A non-profit public educational organization affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, whose aim is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilitate cultural exchanges. There are over 480 Confucius Institutes worldwide.[4]
• Central and Eastern European Online Library – CEEOL is an online archive providing access to full-text articles from humanities and social science scholarly journals on Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European topics. Subject areas include anthropology, culture and society, economy, gender studies, history, Judaic studies, fine arts, literature, linguistics, political sciences and social sciences, philosophy and religion. CEEOL is operated by Questa.Soft GmbH.[5]

Festivals

The Museumsuferfest in 2005

• Museumsuferfest – Museums Riverbank Festival is one of Germany's biggest cultural festivals, attracting more than 3 million visitors over three days at the end of August along the Main riverbank downtown. The 20 museums there open far into the night. It offers live music, dance shows, booths for crafts, jewelry, clothes and food stands from around the world.
• Dippemess – Frankfurt's oldest folk festival is the Festival of Stoneware, which takes place semi-annually around Easter and the end of September in the eastern area. "Dippe" is a regional Hessian dialect word meaning "pot" or "jar" which would not be understood in most other German regions. Mentioned for the first time in the 14th century as an annual marketplace it is now more of an amusement park. The name of the festival derives from its original purpose when it was a fair where traditionally crafted jars, pots and other stoneware were on offer.

"OVO" at Luminale 2012

• Luminale — The "festival of light" has taken place biannually since 2000, parallel to the Light + building exhibition at the trade fair. Many buildings are specially lit for the event. In 2008, more than 220 light installations could be seen, attracting 100,000 visitors.
• Wäldchestag – Day of the forest is known as a regional holiday because until the 1990s it was common that Frankfurt's shops were closed on this day. The festival takes place over four days after Pentecost with the formal Wäldchestag on Tuesday. Its unique location is in the Frankfurt City Forest, south-west of downtown in Niederrad. "Wäldches" is a regional dialect of the German word "Wäldchen", meaning "small forest".
• Nacht der Museen – Night of the museums takes place every year in April or May. 50 museums in Frankfurt and in the neighboring city of Offenbach am Main are open until 2:00 am surrounded by special music events, dance performances, readings and guided tours. A free shuttle operates between the museums. In 2010, approximately 40,000 visitors attended.
• Nacht der Clubs – Night of the clubs is an event similar to Nacht der Museen: On one night as many as 20 clubs can be visited with a single ticket for €12. Usually, club-door policies are loosened to attract new customers. A free shuttle runs between the clubs. 15,000 people participated in 2008.
• Wolkenkratzer Festival — The Skyscraper Festival is unique in Germany. It takes place irregularly, lately in May 2013, and attracted around 1.2 million visitors. For two days most skyscrapers are open to the public. Sky-divers, base jumpers, fireworks and laser shows are extra attractions.

Nightlife

Frankfurt offers a variety of restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs. Clubs concentrate in and around downtownand in the Ostend district, mainly close to Hanauer Landstraße. Restaurants, bars and pubs concentrate in Sachsenhausen, Nordend, Bornheim and Bockenheim.

In electronic music, Frankfurt was a pioneering city in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with renowned DJs including Sven Väth, Marc Trauner, Scot Project and Kai Tracid. One of the main venues of the early Trance music sound was the Omen nightclub from 1988 to 1998. Another popular disco club of the 1980s–1990s and a hotspot for Techno/Trance music was the Dorian Gray, which was located within Terminal 1 at Frankfurt Airport from 1978 to 2000. Further popular venues were the U60311 (1998–2012) and the Coocoon Club in Fechenheim (2004–2012). Notable live music venues of the past include the Sinkkasten Arts Club (1971–2011) and the King Kamehameha Club (1999–2013).

Among the most popular active rock and pop concert venues is the Batschkapp in Seckbach, which opened in 1976 as a center for autonomous and left-wing counter-culture. Further popular active clubs and music venues include the Velvet Club, The Cave, Cooky's, Nachtleben, Silbergold, Zoom, Tanzhaus West and the Yachtclub.

Domestic culture

A "Frankfurt kitchen" in the version of 1926 in an Austrian museum

• Frankfurt kitchen – Designed originally in 1926 for the New Frankfurt-project and built in some 10,000 units, the kitchen became a milestone in domestic architecture, considered the forerunner of modern fitted kitchens.
• Frankfurt cupboard – The Baroque Frankfurt-style cupboards were used to store the family linen, one of them by Goethe's father, who took one cupboard to Rome. The most luxurious versions have wave-shaped parts, some are made of solid cherry wood inlaid with plumwood.

Culinary specialties

"Bembel" (jug) and "Geripptes" (glass)

• Apfelwein – Apple wine or hard cider is regionally known as "Ebbelwoi", "Äppler" or "Stöffsche". It has an alcohol content of 5.5%–7% and a tart, sour taste. It is traditionally served in a glass, typically decorated with lozenges, called "Geripptes", a full glass is then called "Schoppen". Apfelwein is also available in a stoneware jar locally known as "Bembel". A group normally orders a "Bembel" and shares the contents. Apfelwein can be ordered as "sauergespritzer", which is apfelwein blended with 30% mineral water or as "süssgespritzer", which is Apfelwein blended with lemon soda, orange soda or fresh-pressed apple juice (lemon soda being the most common). Most of the pubs which serve Apfelwein are located in Sachsenhausen, which is therefore known as "Ebbelwoi district". Due to its national drink Frankfurt is sometimes called "Big Ebbel" (pronunciation with Hessian dialect), an homage to Big Apple, the famous nickname of New York City.
• Grüne Soße – Green sauce is a sauce made with hard-boiled eggs, oil, vinegar, salt and a generous amount of seven fresh herbs, namely borage, sorrel, garden cress, chervil, chives, parsley and salad burnet. Variants, often due to seasonal availability include dill, lovage, lemon balm and spinach. Original green sauce Frankfurt-style is made of herbs that were gathered only on fields within the city limits.
• Frankfurter Würstchen – "short Frankfurter" is a small sausage made of smoked pork. They are similar to hot dogs. The name Frankfurter Würstchen has been trademarked since 1860.
• Frankfurter Rindswurst – Sausage made of pure beef.
• Frankfurter Rippchen – Also known as Rippchen mit Kraut, this is a traditional dish which consists of cured pork cutlets, slowly heated in sauerkraut or meat broth, and usually served with sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and yellow mustard.
• Handkäs mit Musik – German regional sour milk cheese (similar to Harzer) and a culinary specialty in the Rhine Main Region. The traditional way of producing it is by hand. When it is topped with chopped onions it becomes "Handkäs mit Musik" (with music) because the onions are supposed to stimulate flatulence.
• Frankfurter Kranz – Cake speciality believed to originate from Frankfurt.
• Bethmännchen – "A little Bethmann" is a pastry made from marzipan with almond, powdered sugar, rosewater, flour, and egg. It is usually baked for Christmas.

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Main (river)

Main (river)

The Main is the longest tributary of the Rhine. It rises as the White Main in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and flows west through central Germany for 525 kilometres (326 mi) to meet the Rhine below Rüsselsheim, Hesse. The cities of Mainz and Wiesbaden are close to the confluence.

Hilmar Hoffmann

Hilmar Hoffmann

Hilmar Hoffmann was a German stage and film director, cultural politician and academic lecturer. He founded the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. He was for decades an influential city councillor in Frankfurt, where he initiated the Museumsufer of 15 museums, including the Jewish Museum Frankfurt. He was the president of the Goethe-Institut and taught at universities such as Bochum and Tel Aviv. He wrote the book Kultur für alle, which was a motto of his life and work.

Flea market

Flea market

A flea market is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell previously owned (second-hand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of 'formal' and 'casual' markets which divides a fixed-style market (formal) with long-term leases and a seasonal-style market with short-term leases. Consistently, there tends to be an emphasis on sustainable consumption whereby items such as used goods, collectibles, antiques and vintage clothing can be purchased.

German Architecture Museum

German Architecture Museum

The German Architecture Museum (DAM) is located on the Museumsufer in Frankfurt, Germany. Housed in an 18th-century building, the interior has been re-designed by Oswald Mathias Ungers in 1984 as a set of "elemental Platonic buildings within elemental Platonic buildings". It houses a permanent exhibition entitled "From Ancient Huts to Skyscrapers" which displays the history of architectural development in Germany.

Deutsches Romantik-Museum

Deutsches Romantik-Museum

The Deutsches Romantik-Museum is a museum dedicated to German Romanticism, located in the Innenstadt area of Frankfurt, Germany.

Liebieghaus

Liebieghaus

The Liebieghaus is a late 19th-century villa in Frankfurt, Germany. It contains a sculpture museum, the Städtische Galerie Liebieghaus, which is part of the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of the River Main. Max Hollein was the director from January 2006 to 2016, followed by Philipp Demandt.

Museum Angewandte Kunst

Museum Angewandte Kunst

The Museum Angewandte Kunst (MAK) is located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and part of the Museumsufer. The alternating exhibitions recount tales of cultural values and changing living conditions. Beyond that, they continually refer to the question of what applied art is today and can be and demonstrate the field of tension between function and aesthetic value.

Museum Giersch

Museum Giersch

The Museum Giersch is an art gallery on the Main River in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in the Museumsufer area.

Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt

Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt

The Museum für Kommunikation (MfK) is a museum of the history of communication in Frankfurt, Germany. It opened on 31 January 1958 under the name Bundespostmuseum and is on Frankfurt's Museumsufer.

Museum der Weltkulturen

Museum der Weltkulturen

The Museum of World Cultures is an ethnological museum in Frankfurt, Germany. Until 2001 it was called the Museum of Ethnology.

Museum of Modern Electronic Music

Museum of Modern Electronic Music

The Museum of Modern Electronic Music (MOMEM) is a museum dedicated to electronic dance music, located in central Frankfurt, Germany.

Jewish Museum Frankfurt

Jewish Museum Frankfurt

The Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main is the oldest independent Jewish Museum in Germany. It was opened by Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl on 9 November 1988, the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

In a 2001 ranking by the University of Liverpool, Frankfurt was rated the richest city in Europe by GDP per capita, followed by Karlsruhe, Paris and Munich.^[79]

Frankfurt was voted the seventh in the Mercer Quality of Living Survey by the Mercer Quality of Living Survey (2012),^[80] seventh in the Mercer Quality of Living Survey (2010) and 18th at the Economist's World's Most Liveable Cities Survey (2011).^[81] According to an annual citizen survey (2010), arranged by the city council, 66 percent inhabitants are satisfied or highly satisfied with the city, while only 6 percent said that they are dissatisfied. Compared to the 1993's survey the number of satisfied inhabitants has grown about 22 percent while the number of dissatisfied inhabitants was reduced by 8 percent. 84 percent of the inhabitants like to live in Frankfurt, 13 percent would rather choose to live somewhere else. 37 percent are satisfied with the public safety (1993: only 9 percent), 22 percent are dissatisfied (1993: 64 percent).^[82]

Frankfurt consistently has the highest levels of crime per 100,000 inhabitants in Germany (15.976 crimes per annum in 2008) and is therefore dubbed the German "crime capital".^[83] However, this statistic is often criticized because it ignores major factors: It is calculated based on the administrative 680,000-inhabitant figure while the urban area has 2.5 M inhabitants and on weekdays adds another million people (not counting the 53 million passengers passing through the airport each year). The rate for personal safety-relevant crimes such as murder, manslaughter, rape or bodily harm, is 3.4 percent, placing Frankfurt twelfth in the ranking (related to the official 680,000-inhabitant figure) or number 21 (related to the one-million-figure).^[84] In 2018, the state of Hesse, where Frankfurt is located, was ranked the third-safest state in Germany.^[85]

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University of Liverpool

University of Liverpool

The University of Liverpool is a public research university based in the city of Liverpool, England. Founded as a college in 1881, it gained its Royal Charter in 1903 with the ability to award degrees, and is also known to be one of the six 'red brick' civic universities, the first to be referred to as The Original Red Brick. It comprises three faculties organised into 35 departments and schools. It is a founding member of the Russell Group, the N8 Group for research collaboration and the university management school is triple crown accredited.

Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe is the third-largest city of the German state (Land) of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. It is also a former capital of Baden, a historic region named after Hohenbaden Castle in the city of Baden-Baden. Located on the right bank of the Rhine near the French border, between the Mannheim/Ludwigshafen conurbation to the north and Strasbourg/Kehl to the south, Karlsruhe is Germany's legal center, being home to the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) and the Public Prosecutor General of the Federal Court of Justice.

Munich

Munich

Munich is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, and thus the largest which does not constitute its own state, as well as the 11th-largest city in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to 6 million people. Straddling the banks of the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps, Munich is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany with 4,500 people per km2. Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Economist Intelligence Unit

Economist Intelligence Unit

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, providing forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, such as monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts, country risk service reports, and industry reports. The EIU provides country, industry, and management analysis worldwide and incorporates the former Business International Corporation, a UK company acquired by its parent company in 1986. The EIU has its main offices in four cities—London, New York, Hong Kong and Dubai.

Airports

Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt Airport (with the fourth runway under construction in 2010) and the Frankfurter Kreuz (lower right corner)

The city can be accessed from around the world via Frankfurt Airport (Flughafen Frankfurt am Main) located 12 km (7 mi) southwest of downtown. The airport has four runways and serves 265 nonstop destinations. Run by transport company Fraport it ranks among the world's busiest airports by passenger traffic and is the busiest airport by cargo traffic in Europe. The airport also serves as a hub for Condor and as the main hub for German flag carrier Lufthansa. It is the busiest airport in Europe in terms of cargo traffic, and the fourth busiest in Europe in terms of passenger traffic behind London Heathrow Airport, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Passenger traffic at Frankfurt Airport in 2018 was 69,510,269 passengers.

A third terminal is being constructed (planned to open in 2023). The third terminal will increase the capacity of the airport to over 90 million passengers per year.^[86]

The airport can be reached by car or bus and has two railway stations, one for regional and one for long-distance traffic. The S-Bahn lines S8 and S9 (direction Offenbach Ost or Hanau Hbf) departing at the regional station take 10–15 minutes from the airport to Frankfurt Central Station and onwards to Hauptwache station downtown), the IC and ICE trains departing at the long-distance station take 10 minutes to Frankfurt Central Station.

Frankfurt Hahn Airport

Despite the name, Frankfurt Hahn Airport (Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn) is situated approximately 120 km (75 mi) from the city in Lautzenhausen (Rhineland-Palatinate). Hahn Airport is a major base for low-cost carrier Ryanair. This airport can only be reached by car or bus. An hourly bus service runs from Frankfurt Central Station, taking just over 2 hours.^[87] Passenger traffic at Hahn Airport in 2010 was 3.5 million.

Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport

Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport (Flugplatz Frankfurt-Egelsbach) is a busy general aviation airport located south-east of Frankfurt Airport, near Egelsbach.

Roads

Frankfurter Kreuz

Frankfurt is a traffic hub for the German motorway (Autobahn) system. The Frankfurter Kreuz is an Autobahn interchange close to the airport, where the Bundesautobahn 3 (A3), Cologne to Würzburg, and the Bundesautobahn 5 (A5), Basel to Hanover, meet. With approximately 320,000 cars passing through it every day, it is Europe's most heavily used interchange. The Bundesautobahn 66 (A66) connects Frankfurt with Wiesbaden in the west and Fulda in the east. The Bundesautobahn 661 (A661) is mainly a commuter motorway that starts in the south (Egelsbach), runs through the eastern part and ends in the north (Oberursel). The Bundesautobahn 648 (A648) is a very short motorway in the western part which primarily serves as a fast connection between the A 66 and the Frankfurt Trade Fair. The A5 in the west, the A3 in the south and the A661 in the northeast form a ring road around the inner city districts and define a Low-emission zone (Umweltzone; established in 2008), meaning that vehicles have to meet certain emission criteria to enter the zone.

The streets of central Frankfurt are usually congested with cars during rush hour. Some areas, especially around the shopping streets Zeil, Goethestraße and Freßgass, are pedestrian-only streets.

Railway stations

Frankfurt Central Station

Frankfurt Central Station

Frankfurt Central Station (Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, often abbreviated as Frankfurt (Main) Hbf or F-Hbf) is the largest railway station in Germany by railway traffic. By daily passenger volume, it ranks second together with Munich Central Station (350,000 each) after Hamburg Central Station (450,000). It is located between the Gallus, the Gutleutviertel and the Bahnhofsviertel district, not far away from the trade fair and the financial district. It serves as a major hub for long-distance trains (InterCity, ICE) and regional trains as well as for Frankfurt's public transport system. It is a stop for most of ICE high-speed lines, making it Germany's most important ICE station. ICE Trains to London via the Channel Tunnel were planned for 2013.^[88] All Rhine-Main S-Bahn lines, two U-Bahn lines (U4, U5), several tram and bus lines stop there. Regional and local trains are integrated in the Public transport system Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV), the second-largest integrated public transport systems in the world, after Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg.

Frankfurt Airport stations

S-Bahn at Central Station (underground)

Frankfurt Airport can be accessed by two railway stations: Frankfurt Airport long-distance station (Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbahnhof) is only for long-distance traffic and connects the airport to the main rail network, with most of the ICE services using the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line. The long-distance station is located outside the actual airport ground but has a connecting bridge for pedestrians to Terminal 1, concourse B. Frankfurt Airport regional station (Frankfurt Flughafen Regionalbahnhof) is for local S-Bahn trains (lines S8, S9) and regional trains. The regional station is located within Terminal 1, concourse B.

Frankfurt South station

Frankfurt's third long-distance station is Frankfurt South station (Frankfurt Südbahnhof, often abbreviated as Frankfurt (Main) Süd or F-Süd), located in Sachsenhausen. It is an important destination for local trains and trams (lines 15, 16 and 18) and the terminal stop for four U-Bahn lines (U1, U2, U3, U8) as well as two S-Bahn lines (S5, S6). Two other S-Bahn lines (S3, S4) also serve the station.

Messe stations

The Frankfurt Trade Fair offers two railway stations: Messe station is for local S-Bahn trains (lines S3-S6) and is centrally located amid trade fair premises, while Festhalle/Messe station is served by U-Bahn line U4 and is located at the north-east corner of the premises.

Konstablerwache station and Hauptwache station

Two other major downtown railway stations are Konstablerwache and Hauptwache, located on each end of the Zeil. They are the main stations to change from east-to-west-bound S-Bahn trains to north-to-south-bound U-Bahn trains. Konstablerwache station is the second-busiest railway station regarding daily passenger volume (191,000) after the central station. The third-busiest railway station is Hauptwache station (181,000).^[89][90]

Frankfurt West Station

This Station, located in Bockenheim, is served by north-heading Long-Distance ICE trains, multiple regional trains, and four commuter S-Bahn lines (S3, S4, S5, S6). Additionally, it is an important terminal stop for three "Metrobus" lines (M32, M36, M73).

Coach stations

There are three stations for intercity bus services in Frankfurt: one at the south side of the Central Station, one at the Terminal 2 of the airport and another one at Stephanstraße.^[91]

Public transport

Public transport network

The city has two rapid transit systems: the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn, as well as an above-ground tram system. Information about the U- and S-Bahn can be found on the website of the RMV.^[92]

S-Bahn

Nine S-Bahn lines (S1 to S9) connect Frankfurt with the densely populated Rhine Main Region. Most routes have at least 15-minute service during the day, either by one line running every 15 minutes, or by two lines servicing one route at a 30-minute interval. All lines, except line S7, run through the Frankfurt city tunnel and serve the stations Ostendstraße, Konstablerwache, Hauptwache, Taunusanlage and Frankfurt Central Station. When leaving the city the S-Bahn travels above ground. It provides access to the trade fair (S3, S4, S5, S6), the airport (S8, S9), the stadium (S7, S8, S9) and nearby cities such as Wiesbaden, Mainz, Darmstadt, Rüsselsheim, Hanau, Offenbach am Main, Oberursel, Bad Homburg, Kronberg, Friedberg and smaller towns that are on the way. The S8/S9 runs 24/7.

U-Bahn

The U-Bahn has nine lines (U1 to U9) serving Frankfurt and the larger suburbs of Bad Homburg and Oberursel in the north. The trains that run on the U-Bahn are in fact light rail (Stadtbahn) as many lines travel along a track in the middle of the street instead of underground. The minimum service interval is 2.5 minutes, although the usual pattern is that each line runs at 7.5- to 10-minute intervals, which produce between 3- and 5-minute intervals on downtown tracks shared by more than one line.

Tram

Frankfurt has ten tram lines (11, 12, 14 to 21), with trams arriving usually every 10 minutes. Many sections are served by two lines, combining to run at 5-minute intervals during rush-hour. Trams only run above ground and serve more stops than the U-Bahn or the S-Bahn.

Bus

A number of bus lines complete the Frankfurt public transport system. Night buses replace U-Bahn and tram services between 1:30 am and 3:30 am.^[93] The central junction for the night bus service is at the downtown square of Konstablerwache, where all night bus lines start and end.

Taxis

Taxicabs can usually be found outside the major S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations, at the central station, the south station, the airport, the trade fair and in the crowded inner-city shopping streets. The common way to obtain a taxi is to either call a taxi operator or to go to a taxi rank. However, although not the norm, one can hail a passing taxi on the street.

Uber ceased operations in Frankfurt on 9 November 2015 after operating in the city for 18 months.^[94] However, UberX and local cabs are available through the Uber app.^[95]

Bicycles

Velotaxi at the Zeil

Deutsche Bahn makes bicycles available for hire through their Call a Bike service. The bicycles are stationed all over the city, including at selected railway stations. They can easily be spotted because of their eye-catching silver-red color. To rent a specific bike, riders either call a service number to get an unlock code or reserve the bike via the smartphone application. To return the bike, the rider locks it within a designated return area (and calls the service number, if not booked via the app).^[96]

Nextbike also makes bicycles available for hire in Frankfurt. They are stationed all over the city. These can be spotted with their blue color scheme.

Cycle rickshaws (velotaxis), a type of tricycle designed to carry passengers in addition to the driver, are also available. These are allowed to operate in pedestrian-only areas and are therefore practical for sightseeing.

Frankfurt has a network of cycle routes. Many long-distance bike routes into the city have cycle tracks that are separate from motor vehicle traffic. A number of downtown roads are "bicycle streets" where the cyclist has the right of way and where motorized vehicles are only allowed access if they do not disrupt the cycle users. In addition, cyclists are allowed to ride many cramped one-way streets in both directions. As of 2015^[update], 15 percent of citizens used bicycles.^[97]

E-Scooters

Since June 15th 2019, the use of e-scooters was officially permitted by the German federal government. In Frankfurt, companies like Lime, TIER, Bird, voi., Dott or Bolt are offering their electric micro mobility vehicles for lease. However, their use is being regarded with increasing weariness due to frequent abuse (parking, speeding, vandalism, accidents) and has sparked a public debate about the need of further regulation of the e-scooter market.^[98]

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Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt Airport

Frankfurt Airport is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres. It is operated by Fraport and serves as the main hub for Lufthansa, including Lufthansa CityLine and Lufthansa Cargo as well as Condor and AeroLogic. The airport covers an area of 2,300 hectares of land and features two passenger terminals with capacity for approximately 65 million passengers per year; four runways; and extensive logistics and maintenance facilities.

Frankfurter Kreuz

Frankfurter Kreuz

The Frankfurter Kreuz is an Autobahn interchange in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where the autobahns A3 and A5 meet. The interchange was originally to be built from 1931 to 1933, but due to World War II construction was not finished until 1957. It underwent massive remodeling in the 1990s, as it had been frequently overloaded due to excess traffic. Today, both autobahns have ten lanes.

Runway

Runway

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface. Runways, taxiways and ramps, are sometimes referred to as "tarmac", though very few runways are built using tarmac. Takeoff and landing areas defined on the surface of water for seaplanes are generally referred to as waterways. Runway lengths are now commonly given in meters worldwide, except in North America where feet are commonly used.

Fraport

Fraport

Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, commonly known as Fraport, is a German transport company which operates Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt am Main and holds interests in the operation of several other airports around the world. In the past the firm also managed the smaller Frankfurt-Hahn Airport located 130 kilometers west of the city. It is listed on both the Xetra and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The company's current chief executive officer is Stefan Schulte. As of 2019, the company has 22,514 employees and annual revenues of about €3.3 billion. Fraport was the main sponsor of the Bundesliga football team Eintracht Frankfurt from 2002 to 2012.

Flag carrier

Flag carrier

A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.

Lufthansa

Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second-largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding members of Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance, formed in 1997.

Charles de Gaulle Airport

Charles de Gaulle Airport

Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris, and the largest international airport in France. Opened in 1974, it is in Roissy-en-France, 23 km (14 mi) northeast of Paris and is named after statesman Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970), whose initials (CDG) is used as its IATA airport code.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, known informally as Schiphol Airport, is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province of North Holland. It is the world's third busiest airport by international passenger traffic in 2021. With almost 72 million passengers in 2019, it is the third-busiest airport in Europe in terms of passenger volume and the busiest in Europe in terms of aircraft movements. With an annual cargo tonnage of 1.74 million, it is the 4th busiest in Europe. AMS covers a total area of 6,887 acres of land. The airport is built on the single-terminal concept: one large terminal split into three departure halls.

S-Bahn

S-Bahn

The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble commuter or even regional rail systems. The name S-Bahn derives from Schnellbahn, Stadtbahn or Stadtschnellbahn.

Frankfurt Airport regional station

Frankfurt Airport regional station

Frankfurt (Main) Airport regional station is an underground railway station at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany. It provides local S-Bahn and Regionalbahn services to the city and the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. The station opened on 14 March 1972 together with a new passenger terminal. At the time it was only the second railway station serving an airport in Germany.

Frankfurt Hauptwache station

Frankfurt Hauptwache station

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptwache station is a major train station in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany.

InterCity

InterCity

InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains generally call at major stations only.

Westhafen Tower, home to the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is an institution of the EU and part of the European System of Financial Supervisors that was created in response to the financial crisis of 2007–2008. It was established on 1 January 2011.

Federal Financial Supervisory Authority

Frankfurt is one of two locations of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, short: BaFin). The BaFin is an independent federal institution and acts as Germany's financial regulatory authority.

International Finance Corporation

Frankfurt is home to the German office of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is part of the World Bank Group. The IFC promotes sustainable private sector investment in developing countries.

German National Library

Frankfurt is one of two sites of the German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek), the other being Leipzig. The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek is the largest universal library in Germany. Its task, unique in Germany, is to collect, permanently archive, comprehensively document and record bibliographically all German and German-language publications from 1913 on, foreign publications about Germany, translations of German works and the works of German-speaking emigrants published abroad between 1933 and 1945, and to make them available to the public.^[99]

Consulates

Greek consulate

As a profoundly international city, Frankfurt hosts 92 diplomatic missions (consulates and consulates-general). Worldwide, only New York City and Hamburg are non-capital cities with more foreign representation. The Consulate General of the United States in Eckenheim is the largest American consulate in the world.^[100]

Courts

Several courts are located in Frankfurt, including:

• Hessisches Landesarbeitsgericht (Hessian State Employment Court)^[101]
• Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt (Higher Regional Court Frankfurt)^[102]
• Landgericht Frankfurt (Regional Court Frankfurt)^[103]
• Amtsgericht Frankfurt (Local Court Frankfurt)^[104]
• Sozialgericht Frankfurt (Social Court Frankfurt)^[105]
• Arbeitsgericht Frankfurt (Employment Court Frankfurt)^[106]
• Verwaltungsgericht Frankfurt (Administration Court Frankfurt)^[107]

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Westhafen Tower

Westhafen Tower

Westhafen Tower is a 109.826 m (360.32 ft) 30-storey skyscraper in the Gutleutviertel district of Frankfurt, Germany. The building was designed by the architects Schneider & Schumacher and was completed in 2004. The tower, whose name literally means "West Port Tower", is one of the first buildings at the former West Port.

European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is a European Union financial regulatory institution that replaced the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS). It is established under EU Regulation 1094/2010.

Federal Financial Supervisory Authority

Federal Financial Supervisory Authority

The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority better known by its abbreviation BaFin is the financial regulatory authority for Germany. It is an independent federal institution with headquarters in Bonn and Frankfurt and falls under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Finance. BaFin supervises about 2,700 banks, 800 financial services institutions, and over 700 insurance undertakings.

Financial regulation

Financial regulation

Financial regulation is a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the stability and integrity of the financial system. This may be handled by either a government or non-government organization. Financial regulation has also influenced the structure of banking sectors by increasing the variety of financial products available. Financial regulation forms one of three legal categories which constitutes the content of financial law, the other two being market practices and case law.

International Finance Corporation

International Finance Corporation

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private-sector development in less developed countries. The IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States.

World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA), two of five international organizations owned by the World Bank Group. It was established along with the International Monetary Fund at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. After a slow start, its first loan was to France in 1947. In the 1970s, it focused on loans to developing world countries, shifting away from that mission in the 1980s. For the last 30 years, it has included NGOs and environmental groups in its loan portfolio. Its loan strategy is influenced by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, as well as environmental and social safeguards.

Developing country

Developing country

A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreement on which countries fit this category. The term low and middle-income country (LMIC) is often used interchangeably but refers only to the economy of the countries. The World Bank classifies the world's economies into four groups, based on gross national income per capita: high, upper-middle, lower-middle, and low income countries. Least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states are all sub-groupings of developing countries. Countries on the other end of the spectrum are usually referred to as high-income countries or developed countries.

German National Library

German National Library

The German National Library is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehensively document and record bibliographically all German and German-language publications since 1913, foreign publications about Germany, translations of German works, and the works of German-speaking emigrants published abroad between 1933 and 1945, and to make them available to the public. The DNB is also responsible for the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie and several special collections like the Deutsches Exilarchiv 1933–1945, Anne-Frank-Shoah-Bibliothek and the Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum. The German National Library maintains co-operative external relations on a national and international level. For example, it is the leading partner in developing and maintaining bibliographic rules and standards in Germany and plays a significant role in the development of international library standards. The cooperation with publishers has been regulated by law since 1935 for the Deutsche Bücherei Leipzig and since 1969 for the Deutsche Bibliothek Frankfurt am Main.

Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 624,689 inhabitants as of 2022 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as well as the second most populous city in the area of the former East Germany after (East) Berlin. Together with Halle (Saale), the city forms the polycentric Leipzig-Halle Conurbation. Between the two cities lies Leipzig/Halle Airport.

Universal library

Universal library

A universal library is a library with universal collections. This may be expressed in terms of it containing all existing information, useful information, all books, all works or even all possible works. This ideal, although unrealizable, has influenced and continues to influence librarians and others and be a goal which is aspired to. Universal libraries are often assumed to have a complete set of useful features.

Hamburg

Hamburg

Hamburg, officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin, as well as the overall 7th largest city and largest non-capital city in the European Union with a population of over 1.85 million. Hamburg is 941 km2 in area. Hamburg's urban area has a population of around 2.5 million and is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, which has a population of over 5.1 million people in total. The city lies on the River Elbe and two of its tributaries, the River Alster and the River Bille. One of Germany's 16 federated states, Hamburg is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south.

Universities and schools

Frankfurt hosts two universities and several specialist schools. The two business schools are Goethe University Frankfurt's Goethe Business School and Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe University

Johann Wolfgang Goethe University

The oldest and best-known university is the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, with locations in Bockenheim, Westend, and Riedberg, and the university hospital in Niederrad. Goethe Business School is part of the university's House of Finance at Campus Westend. The Business School's Full-Time MBA program has over 70% international students.

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences

The Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences was created out of several older organisations in 1971, and offers over 38 study areas, in the arts, sciences, engineering and law. Some of the most important research projects: Planet Earth Simulator, FraLine-IT-School-Service, quantitative analysis of methane in human corpses with the help of a mass spectrometer, software engineering (e.g., fraDesk), analysis of qualitative and quantitative gas in human lungs, long-term studies on photovoltaic modules (to name only a few).

Frankfurt School of Finance and Management

The city is also home to a business school, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, formerly known as the Hochschule für Bankwirtschaft (Institution of Higher Learning for Banking Economics), with its new campus near Deutsche Nationalbibliothek U-Bahn stop (recently moving from its previous location in the Ostend (Eastend) neighborhood). In 2001, it became a specialist institution for Economics and Management, or FOM. Frankfurt School is consistently ranked among the best business schools in the world, attributed to its high research output and quality of undergraduate and graduate training.^[108]

Städelschule

Frankfurt has the State Institution of Higher Learning for Artistic Education known as the Städelschule, founded in 1817 by Johann Friedrich Städel. It was taken over by the city in 1942 and turned into a state art school.

Music schools and conservatory

Music institutions are the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, and the Hoch Conservatory (Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium) which was founded in 1878. The International Ensemble Modern Academy is a significant institution for the study of contemporary music.^[109]

Other notable schools

The Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology (German:Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen), a private institution with membership in the German Jesuit Association, has been located in Sachsenhausen since 1950.

Education and media

Frankfurt schools rank among the best-equipped schools nationwide for the availability of PCs and other media facilities. In order to assure maintenance and support of the school PCs, the city in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences launched the project Fraline – IT-Schul-Service, an initiative employing students to provide basic school IT-support.

Research institutes

Max Planck Institute for Brain Research

The city is home to three Max Planck Society institutes: the Max Planck Institute for European History of Law (MPIeR), Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, and the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research.

The Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, sponsored by several institutional and private sources, is involved in theoretical research in physics, chemistry, neuroscience, and computer science.

Frankfurt is host to the Römisch-Germanische-Kommission (RGK), the German Archaeological Institute branch for prehistoric archeology in Germany and Europe. The RGK is involved in a variety of research projects. Its library, with over 130,000 volumes, is one of the largest archeological libraries in the world.

Goethe University and Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences are involved in the Hessian Center for Artificial Intelligence ("hessian.AI").

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Goethe University Frankfurt

Goethe University Frankfurt

Goethe University Frankfurt is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt. The original name in German was Universität Frankfurt am Main. In 1932, the university's name was extended in honour of one of the most famous native sons of Frankfurt, the poet, philosopher and writer/dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The university currently has around 45,000 students, distributed across four major campuses within the city.

Goethe Business School

Goethe Business School

Goethe Business School gGmbH (GBS) is a subsidiary of Goethe University Frankfurt. Goethe Business School was founded 2004 and offers, in close cooperation with the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, a wide range of education for executives and young professionals.

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management Frankfurt School of Finance & Management is a private university with a right to award doctorates, recognized under Hesse’s Higher Education Act. The parent organization is the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management Foundation. Frankfurt School has a second campus in HafenCity in Hamburg and a study center in Munich, as well as offices in developing and emerging countries in cities such as Nairobi and Amman.

House of Finance

House of Finance

The House of Finance is an interdisciplinary research and teaching institute for law and economics at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Its mission is to evolve into a leading European and, ultimately, international center for financial and partly legal research.

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences

Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences

The Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences is a public University of Applied Sciences in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

FraLine

FraLine

fraLine is a non-profit (research) project of Research Center Frankfurt Technology Center Media - FTzM of Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. Project and research activities focus on IT services management for schools and the use of digital media in educational settings. fraLine is also a joint project between the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and the city of Frankfurt am Main. fraLine and the city of Frankfurt cooperate in the fields of IT support and IT service management in educational contexts as well as technical implementation of digital media in class. fraLine also cooperates with the Hessian state education authority in the field of media education and digital media training for teachers. fraLine was launched in 2001 by Professor Dr Thomas Knaus and employs mainly technical students of the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and Goethe University Frankfurt, but also IT professionals, engineers and media educators.

Methane

Methane

Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CH4. It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Earth makes it an economically attractive fuel, although capturing and storing it poses technical challenges due to its gaseous state under normal conditions for temperature and pressure.

Johann Friedrich Städel

Johann Friedrich Städel

Johann Friedrich Städel (1728–1816) was a German banker and patron of the arts. He founded the Städel Art Institute in his will, donating his entire fortune, art collection and house to the institute.

Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts

Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts

The Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts is a state Hochschule for music, theatre and dance in Frankfurt and is the only one of its kind in the Federal State of Hesse. It was founded in 1938.

Hoch Conservatory

Hoch Conservatory

Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium – Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for music and the arts was established for all age groups. Instrumental to the foundation, prosperity and success of the conservatory was its director Joachim Raff who did most of the work including setting the entire curriculum and hiring all its faculty. It has played an important role in the history of music in Frankfurt. Clara Schumann taught piano, as one of distinguished teachers in the late 19th century, gaining international renown for the conservatory. In the 1890s, about 25% of the students came from other countries: 46 were from England and 23 from the United States.

Ensemble Modern

Ensemble Modern

Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries.

Sachsenhausen (Frankfurt am Main)

Sachsenhausen (Frankfurt am Main)

Sachsenhausen-Nord and Sachsenhausen-Süd are two quarters of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The division into a northern and a southern part is mostly for administrative purposes as Sachsenhausen is generally considered a single entity. Both city districts are part of the Ortsbezirk Süd.

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Main Forum, home to IG Metall

Frankfurt is home to multiple trade unions and associations, including:

• IG Metall, Germany's largest metalworkers trade union, based at the Main Forum high-rise building in the Gutleutviertel district
• IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt, a union for construction and engineering workers,
• Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft, a union for teachers
• Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer, a union for train drivers

Trade associations include:

• Verband der Elektrotechnik, Elektronik und Informationstechnik (Electrotechnical, Electronic and Information Technology Association)
• DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie (Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology Association)
• Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, which organizes the Frankfurt Book Fair
• Bundesverband des Deutschen Versandhandels (German Mail Order Industry Association)
• Verband der Chemischen Industrie (Chemical Industry Association)
• Verband der Photoindustrie (Photography Industry Association)
• Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (German Machine and Equipment Building Association)
• Verband der Köche Deutschlands (German Cooks Association)

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IG Metall

IG Metall

IG Metall is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of German labor relations consider it a major trend-setter in national bargaining.

Metalworking

Metalworking

Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale: from huge ships, buildings, and bridges down to precise engine parts and delicate jewelry.

IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt

IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt

The IG Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt is a trade union in Germany with a membership of 350,000. It is the fourth largest of eight industrial affiliates of the DGB. IG BAU is active in the sectors of construction and engineering, building materials, building cleaning, facility management, gardening, forestry and agriculture. Since 2013 Robert Feiger has been the president of IG BAU.

Construction worker

Construction worker

A construction worker is a worker employed in the physical construction of the built environment and its infrastructure.

Education and Science Workers' Union (Germany)

Education and Science Workers' Union (Germany)

The Education and Science Workers’ Union is a trade union in Germany. It has a membership of 280,343 and is one of eight industrial affiliates of the German Confederation of Trade Unions. Most members are teachers, but it also represents day care workers, social workers, private educators, researchers and professors.

Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer

Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer

The Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer is a German trade union that represents workers in train companies. It has a membership of 34,000.

Trade association

Trade association

A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association participates in public relations activities such as advertising, education, publishing, lobbying, and political donations, but its focus is collaboration between companies. Associations may offer other services, such as producing conferences, holding networking or charitable events, or offering classes or educational materials. Many associations are non-profit organizations governed by bylaws and directed by officers who are also members.

DECHEMA

DECHEMA

DECHEMA is an abbreviation for "Deutsche Gesellschaft für chemisches Apparatewesen", though it has since been expanded to "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie".

Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels

Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels

Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels is a trade association of the German publishing industry, based in Frankfurt. It was founded in Frankfurt in 1948, and merged in 1991 with a similar Leipzig organisation. It organises the annual Frankfurt Book Fair, where the peace prize Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels has been awarded from 1950.

Frankfurt Book Fair

Frankfurt Book Fair

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. It is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for international deals and trading. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The first three days are restricted exclusively to professional visitors; the general public attend the fair on the weekend.

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Newspapers

Editorial department building of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Two important daily newspapers are published. The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, also known as FAZ, was founded in 1949 and is the German newspaper with the widest circulation outside of Germany, with its editors claiming to deliver the newspaper to 148 countries every day. The FAZ has a circulation of over 380,000 copies daily. The other important newspaper, the Frankfurter Rundschau, was first published in 1945 and has a daily circulation of over 181,000.

Magazines

Several magazines also originate from Frankfurt. The local Journal Frankfurt is the best-known magazine for events, parties, and "insider tips". Öko-Test is a consumer-oriented magazine that focuses on ecological topics. Titanic is a well-known and often criticized satirical magazine with a circulation of approximately 100,000.

Radio and TV

Frankfurt's first radio station was the Südwestdeutsche Rundfunkdienst AG (Southwest German Broadcast Service), founded in 1924. Its successor service is the public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk (Hessian Broadcast Service). It is located at the "Funkhaus am Dornbusch" in the Dornbusch district and is one of the most important radio and television broadcasters in Hesse, with additional studios in Kassel, Darmstadt and Fulda.

Bloomberg TV and RTL Television have regional studios.

Other radio broadcasters include Main FM and Radio X.

From August 1945 to October 2004, the American Forces Network (AFN) had broadcast from Frankfurt (AFN Frankfurt). Due to troop reductions the AFN's location has been closed with AFN now broadcasting from Mannheim.

News agency

Frankfurt is home to the German office of Reuters, a global news agency. Associated Press and US-based international news agency Feature Story News have bureaux in Frankfurt.

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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservative German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt. Its Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

Frankfurter Rundschau

Frankfurter Rundschau

The Frankfurter Rundschau (FR) is a German daily newspaper, based in Frankfurt am Main. It is published every day but Sunday as a city, two regional and one nationwide issues and offers an online edition as well as an e-paper. Local major competitors are the conservative-liberal Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the local edition of the conservative tabloid Bild, the best-selling newspaper in Europe, and the smaller local conservative Frankfurter Neue Presse. The Rundschau's layout is modern and its editorial stance is social liberal. It holds that "independence, social justice and fairness" underlie its journalism.

Hessischer Rundfunk

Hessischer Rundfunk

Hessischer Rundfunk is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, ARD.

Broadcasting House Dornbusch

Broadcasting House Dornbusch

Broadcasting House Dornbusch is headquarters and main broadcasting facility of the German public broadcaster for the state of Hessen, Hessischer Rundfunk.

Dornbusch (Frankfurt am Main)

Dornbusch (Frankfurt am Main)

Dornbusch is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the Ortsbezirk Mitte-Nord. Dornbusch has a local U-Bahn station of the same name that is served by lines U1, U2, U3 & U8. It can be found on eschersheimer landstraße and is located alongside the Sinaipark.

Broadcasting

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum, in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began with AM radio, which came into popular use around 1920 with the spread of vacuum tube radio transmitters and receivers. Before this, most implementations of electronic communication were one-to-one, with the message intended for a single recipient. The term broadcasting evolved from its use as the agricultural method of sowing seeds in a field by casting them broadly about. It was later adopted for describing the widespread distribution of information by printed materials or by telegraph. Examples applying it to "one-to-many" radio transmissions of an individual station to multiple listeners appeared as early as 1898.

Darmstadt

Darmstadt

Darmstadt is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area. Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse after Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, and Kassel.

Fulda

Fulda

Fulda is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (Kreis). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival.

American Forces Network

American Forces Network

The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which include global radio and television satellite feeds, emanate from the AFN Broadcast Center/Defense Media Center in Riverside, California. AFN was founded on 26 May 1942, in London as the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS).

AFN Frankfurt

AFN Frankfurt

AFN Frankfurt was a radio station in Frankfurt, Germany, that was operational from 1945 to 2004. It was a part of the American Forces Network (AFN) broadcasting to US soldiers serving overseas, and long served as headquarters of AFN Europe. It was popular not just with soldiers, but also with a German "shadow audience", and was instrumental in introducing several American musical styles to German listeners.

Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspapers and broadcasters. Since the award was established in 1917, the AP has earned 56 Pulitzer Prizes, including 34 for photography. It is also known for publishing the widely used AP Stylebook.

Feature Story News

Feature Story News

Feature Story News (FSN) is an international broadcast news agency providing news coverage, live reports and news packages to television and radio stations around the world.