For many years, Frankfurt was near the bottom of the list as
a destination for travelers. Sure, you might fly through its airport, on the
way to someplace else, but few people who didn’t have business here came to
visit. And business was the reason to come. Frankfurt is the home to Germany’s
banking and insurance industries, and the view was that there was not a lot
here for tourists. But times have changes, and today, Frankfurt is definitely
worth a visit.
Like Hamburg, Frankfurt’s history dates back to the Holy
Roman Empire. Charlemagne presided over an imperial assembly here in
794 CE. From 1562 until 1792 this was the place where kings and emperors and
elected and crowned. Frankfurt started hosting trade fairs in 1150, and in 1372
it was named an Imperial Free City, making it a free-trade zone. Those fairs
continue today, and Frankfurt hosts the largest book fair in the world. Frankfurt
is also home to Germany’s main stock exchange, which began as a market to
standardize currency rates in 1585.
During World War II, Frankfurt sustained major damage from
allied bombing. What had been the largest medieval city center in Germany was
largely destroyed. That area has been rebuilt, but most of the buildings are
modern skyscrapers that serve as the headquarters to the German National Bank,
the European Central Bank, Duetche Bank, and other major financial
institutions. It was this focus on business and finance that led to Frankfurt’s
reputation as a place that was not the time for travelers. Today, the city is
working hard to change that reputation.
Frankfurt is home to 30 museums, and 12 of them are within a
one-mile stretch of Main River. I took advantage of their proximity to visit
three of them in the one day I had available. My first stop was at the Städel Museum.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, Johann
Friedrich Städel (1728-1816) was a financier who turned his father’s
spice business into a bank, lending money to both the city of Frankfurt and the
Bishop of Strasbourg. By the time he died, unmarried and childless, he had
collected over 500 paintings and 2000 engravings. He bequeathed the art, his
house, and his fortune to the city to establish this museum. Its current home
opened in 1878 along Shaumainkaistrasse, and this beautiful building houses a
world class Pan-European
collection spanning from the 14th to the 21st
century. One reason I wanted to visit the Städel was an exhibit of works by Peter
Paul Rubens. The exhibit was title “Rubens. The Power of
Transformation.” Instead of just presenting his work, it focused on how he used
the work of previous artists to inspire him. They brought together objects that
wrote about and sketched along with his paintings to show the way he learned
from what he observed and changed it into something new. A Titian painting
inspired him to paint his own version of the same subject, in this case Venus
and Adonis; a Greek sculpture that became the basis for the torso of Christ in
a painting. This was a fascinating exploration of the way an artist can use the
work of another to inspire their best work, and a reminder that even genius has
ties to what has come before.
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Painting by Max Beckman, that was labeled as "degenerate art" by the Nazis |
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Venus and Adonis by Rubens |
My next stop was at Leibieghaus. This small museum,
in a villa along the Main, is dedicated to statuary. Its diverse collection
includes statues from throughout the history of Europe, the Middle East and
Asia. This past spring and summer the museum hosted an exhibit by South African
artist William Kentridge.
His work included sculpture, drawings and videos that explore our relationship
to time. Spread throughout, he integrated his work with the museum’s.
My final visit was to the Deutsches Filminstituit (German
Film Institute). This museum celebrates and explores the world of movies. The
top floor hosted an exhibit in honor of the 50th anniversary of the
release of “2001: A Space Odyssey.” On display were models and costumes from
the film, planning sketches, and scenes from the movie on video. Other exhibit
halls showed the development of movie technology. My favorite part was a 20-minute
video that featured clips from dozens of movies in order to explore how directors
use different methods, visual, and audio techniques. From color to music to
special effects, up to three clips at a time are shown to illustrate each
topic. It was immersive and fascinating.
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Costumes from 2001: A Space Odyssey |
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Model from Nightmare before Christmas |
All three of these museums are on Shaumainkaistrasse, which
runs along the southern bank of the Main River. My visit was on a beautiful
Sunday at the Start of May and it felt as if the entire population of Frankfurt
had come out to enjoy the weather. The park along the river was filled with
picnickers, bikers and families out for a stroll. They had come to bask in the
sun after the long German winter.
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Crossing the Main on the tour bus |
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Enjoying a beautiful spring day |
Crossing to the north side of the Main, I walked through the
center of the city. This area was almost obliterated during World War II and
has been reconstructed, mostly with modern buildings. One exception is
Römerberg, a historic market square. Here the new buildings were erected to
look like the those that were here before the war. While there was no market
going on here, a short walk brought me to Carl Theodor-Reiffenstein Platz where
there was a market in session, with crafts and food for sale. I took the
opportunity to have a glass of apfelwein, the local
hard cider. The kiosk served the drink for 2-euros in a glass, and I got 1-euro
back when I returned the glass.
While Frankfurt remains the banking and insurance center of
Germany, and of Europe, it has become a destination for lovers of art and
culture in its own right. It also serves as a great base for exploring the Main
Valley, as I will discuss next week.
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