ALTSTADT (OLD TOWN):



Römerberg is the square in the heart of Frankfurt's very small Altstadt (old town). It is one of the few historical blocks that remain of central Frankfurt after the bombings by the Americans during WWII on the night of March 22 1944. At the square is the famous Römer town hall, St Nicholas Church and rebuilt medieval half-timbered houses. The big cathedral, Kaiserdom, is also near the square.





Römerberg Square. The historical heart of Frankfurt with the city hall Römer in the middle and Commerzbank Tower in the background.













St Nicholas Church





















































Paulskirche.














































Kaiserdom, St Bartholomäus, or the Frankfurter Dom is the grand cathedral of Frankfurt.


























Some of the remnants of the old church.





Kaiserdom, also called St Bartholomeus Cathedral, stands 95 m tall and is visible from the river banks of Main.



HAUPTWACHE:






Hauptwache is a baroque building from 1730 that gave name to the square. It the headquarters of the city's Stadtwehr Militia when Frankfurt was an independent city state.

It has hosted a prison and a police station. Now it hosts a popular café.









Katharinenkirche, St Catherine's Church is a 54 m tall baroque church situated at Hauptwache.









St Catherine's Church seen from Goethestrasse. As a Swedish citizen I noted the SEB bank, that has its own café!

ESCHENHEIMER TURM:





Eschenheimer Turm. The 47 m high tower was the gate to the city of Frankfurt and is the best preserved old builting, dating from the 15th century.


































MESSEVIERTEL AND WESTEND

Messeviertel is the area around the exhibition, Frankfurter Messe. The most famous exhibitions are the annual cars, music and book fairs. Frankfurter Messe is the world's largest trade fair organiser. Some of Frankfurt's tallest skyscrapers, as the iconic Messeturm, are situated in Messeviertel and Westend, the district between Messeviertel and Bahnhofviertel.




Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage is the heavily trafficated road that leads from Hauptbahnhof and financial district to the exhibition area.





MesseTurm and Pollux seen from Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage.









Westend Strasse 1 (DZ Bank) from 1993 has a striking design. It is 208m tall and has 51 floors. On one side of the building is the modern and polish Westend area, and on the other side the red light district!














































AROUND THE FAIR AREA:









St. Matthäus Kirche is now surrounded by skyscrapers; Pollux, 130m tall from 1997 and Tower 185 (under construction).










Tower 185, here under construction (2010), will be the 3rd tallest building in Frankfurt upon completion in 2011. 204m tall and 55 floors.





MesseTurm, 257m tall, was Europe's tallest skyscraper upon completion in 1991. It was surpassed by Commerzbank Tower, also in Frankfurt, in 1997. It has 63 floors (it is still the tallest in Germany by number of floors) and is the most elegant skyscraper in Frankfurt, in my opinion.













Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage with the Marriott Hotel.





Europaturm seen from Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage. At a height of 338m, Europaturm from 1979 is the second tallest TV tower in Germany (after Berlin) and the tallest structure in Frankfurt.






The "Hammering man" from 1991 is a moving sculpture in front of MesseTurm and the Trade Fair is a 21 m high sculpture that has been designed by Jonathan Borofsky. There are similar moving sculptures in New York, Seattle, Seoul and 6 other cities.





Messe Frankfurt, the world's largest trade fair. Among its many fairs are cars, books and music. It has an area of 578 000 square meters.





The backside of the trade fair looks much cooler, but is hard to see from street level. It has 9 exhibition halls. In 2007, Messe Frankfurt organised a total of 112 trade fairs, of which 68 abroad.






Festhalle Frankfurt from 1908 is the oldest building in the fair area. The Festhalle is one of the most important buildings of the late historicism. The architect is Friedrich von Thiersch.

















Details of the brown granite exterior of MesseTurm.





Marriott (the building is also called Plaza Büro Center) is Frankfurt's highest hotel. It was Frankfurt's tallest building when completed in 1976. It has 47 floors.


















Messe Torhaus. It craves a lot of effort as a pedestrian to get to this place and take a photo of this postmodern building from 1985! The building is only 116 m tall, but is worth to see because of the design by Prof U M Ungers.













GOETHESTRASSE:





Goethestrasse, Frankfurt's most exclusive street, is filled with brand stores and expensive cars. It begins at Opernplatz.


















Goethestrasse leads to a statue of Frankfurt's foremost icon, Goethe. This is the largest one of at least two statues of him in Frankfurt.



BOCKENHEIMER ANLAGE:






Bockenheimer Anlage. A small, but beautiful park next to Opernplatz and Alte Opera.




























ROTHSCHILD PARK:





Rothschild Park, a small park in downtown Frankfurt.