SW EE-336 Frankfurt am Main

The skyline of Frankfurt is significantly different from other European cities - there are many skyscrapers and high-rise buildings in the city center. These are however not featured in this postcard. This postcard shows 4 of the many interesting sights in Frankfurt. 

1) Saint Bartholomew's Cathedral (Dom Sankt Bartholomäus), named after Bartholomew the Apostle, is a gothic building which was constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries. From 1356 onwards, kings of the Holy Roman Empire were elected in this church, and from 1562 to 1792, the Roman-German emperors were crowned here. Today, it is the main church of Frankfurt. The height of the cathedral is 95 metres.

2) Saint Paul's Church (Paulskirche) is a national historic monument in Germany because it was the seat of the first democratically elected Parliament in 1848 which sat 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. This building nowadays is not used for religious services but mainly for exhibitions and events.

3) Römer (‘Roman’ in German) - this 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.

4) The Alte Oper (“Old Opera”) is a former opera house built in 1880. It was one of the major opera houses in Germany until it was heavily damaged in World War II. The building was left as a ruin until it was finally fully reconstructed and reopened in 1981. Today, it functions as a famous concert hall. The inscription on the frieze of the Alte Oper says: "Dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten" ("To the true, the beautiful, the good").

Personal notes:
We flew home from Frankfurt during our 2006 visit to Germany and Switzerland. We did not do much sightseeing in this city as we had a medical problem at that time.

Yvonne (sent this postcard (29 October 2014) DS Swap-bot.