Frankfurt Historical Landmarks: The City in Five
Strichwerke
Frankfurt historical landmarks are not a list of the city's best buildings. They are a reading list for its history, in the order that history happened. Frankfurt is the only German city with a skyline, and that is the least interesting thing about it. The city was first mentioned in a document in 794, was an imperial free city from 1372, and spent nearly five centuries as one of the most important places in the Holy Roman Empire — the site where emperors were elected and crowned. The five landmarks we draw are not a list of Frankfurt's best buildings. They are a reading list for the city's history, in the order that history happened.
The short version: Frankfurt's story runs from a medieval coronation city, through a 19th-century cultural boom, to a 20th-century financial capital. The Römerberg, the Eiserner Steg, the Alte Oper, the Europa Tower and the skyline each mark a different chapter. All five are in our collection.
A short history of Frankfurt
The name comes from Franconofurd, the ford of the Franks — a shallow crossing on the river Main where the Franks could cross on foot. Charlemagne presided over an imperial assembly here in 794, and the settlement grew into one of the two capitals of his grandson Louis the German.
From 1372 Frankfurt was a Reichsstadt, an imperial free city answerable directly to the emperor rather than to a regional lord. From 1562 until 1792, Roman-German emperors were crowned in St. Bartholomew's, the church now called the Frankfurt Cathedral. The elections took place there too. This is the fact that shaped the city's self-image: Frankfurt was not a princely residence, it was a place where the empire did its business.
The city lost its independence twice. Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz dissolved the Holy Roman Empire in 1805, and Frankfurt was absorbed into a short-lived grand duchy. It regained its sovereignty at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and became a free city-state again, hosting the German Confederation's parliament. In 1848 it was the seat of the first democratically elected German parliament, which met in St. Paul's Church and failed in 1849 when the Prussian king refused "a crown from the gutter". Then in 1866 Prussia annexed the Free City of Frankfurt after the Austro-Prussian War, and the city became part of the province of Hesse-Nassau.
The 20th century rebuilt it twice. Frankfurt was severely bombed in the Second World War — around 5,500 residents were killed and the medieval centre, by then one of the largest in Germany, was almost completely destroyed. Postwar reconstruction was mostly modern, which is why the city looks the way it does. What survived, and what was rebuilt, is what we draw.
The Frankfurt historical landmarks in our collection
Römerberg and the Römer
The Römer is Frankfurt's city hall, and it is not one building but a complex of nine houses. The city council bought them from a wealthy merchant family in 1405; the middle house became the town hall and was later joined to its neighbours. The Kaisersaal, the Emperor's Hall, is on the upper floor, and it is where newly crowned emperors held their banquets.
The square in front of it, the Römerberg, is named after the building. The Römer was partially destroyed in the war and rebuilt. Between 2012 and 2018 the area between the Römer and the cathedral was redeveloped as the Dom-Römer Quarter, including 15 reconstructions of historical buildings destroyed in the war.
This is the oldest layer of the city you can stand in: the coronation route, the merchant houses, the square where the empire's business was celebrated.
Eiserner Steg
The Iron Footbridge crosses the Main between the Römerberg and Sachsenhausen. The first wrought-iron version was built in 1868 and was only the second bridge to cross the river here. It was replaced in 1911 and 1912 by a slightly larger cantilever bridge, 170 metres long, with riveted steel trusses on two piers.
The Wehrmacht blew it up in the last days of the war, in March 1945. It was rebuilt in 1946 and fully renovated in 1993. Around 10,000 people cross it every day.
The bridge is the hinge of the city: it connects the historic north bank to Sachsenhausen, and it is where you get the view of the skyline that everyone photographs.
Alte Oper
The Alte Oper was built as Frankfurt's opera house, designed by the Berlin architect Richard Lucae, financed by the citizens and constructed by Philipp Holzmann. Work began in 1873 and it opened on 20 October 1880, with Kaiser Wilhelm I among the guests. He is reported to have said that he could not have permitted such a thing in Berlin.
The frieze carries the inscription Dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten — to the true, the beautiful, the good. A local dialect poet responded that to the true, the beautiful and the good, the citizenry must bleed, which turned out to be accurate: the costs ran to a multiple of the two million marks originally planned.
It was badly damaged by bombing in 1944, though much of the facade survived. In the 1960s the city planned to demolish it; the economy minister Rudi Arndt earned the nickname "Dynamite Rudi" for suggesting a little dynamite would solve the problem. A citizens' initiative collected 15 million Deutschmarks, the final bill was around 160 million, and the building reopened on 28 August 1981 with Mahler's Eighth Symphony. It is a concert hall now, with a 2,500-seat main hall.
The Alte Oper is the city's 19th-century cultural ambition in one building: built by citizens, nearly demolished by planners, saved by citizens again.
Europa Tower
The Europaturm is a telecommunications tower, designed by Erwin Heinle, built between 1974 and 1979. At 337.5 metres it is the tallest tower in Germany and the second-tallest structure in the country after the Berlin Fernsehturm. Its base is 59 metres thick, the widest of any comparable structure in the world.
The top used to turn, and there was a restaurant and a discotheque up there. It has been closed to the public since 1999. Locals call it the Ginnheimer Spargel — the Ginnheim asparagus — even though it actually stands in Bockenheim.
It is the counterweight to the Römerberg in this collection: the same city, five hundred years later, building for a different kind of power.
The city skyline
Frankfurt is unique among German cities in having skyscrapers at all. It hosts 20 of Germany's 21. Most are in the Bankenviertel, the banking district, or around the trade fair grounds.
The first boom came in the 1970s, when the Westend Gate and the Silberturm became the tallest buildings in Germany. The 1990s brought a second wave: the Messeturm reached 256.5 metres and was the tallest building in Europe by 1991, until the Commerzbank Tower overtook it at 259 metres in 1997. The European Central Bank's headquarters, completed in 2014, is 185 metres.
The skyline is the reason Frankfurt gets called "Mainhattan", a portmanteau of the river Main and Manhattan. It is also the reason the city is sometimes described as un-German, which misses the point: the skyline is what a city-state with no princely court and a talent for banking eventually builds.
How the landmarks fit together
Read in order, the five landmarks are a single argument. The Römerberg is the medieval city: imperial, ceremonial, built around the coronation. The Eiserner Steg is the 19th-century city: industrial, connecting, expanding across the river. The Alte Oper is the bourgeois city: culture funded by citizens rather than a court. The Europa Tower and the skyline are the postwar city: finance, communications, vertical.
That is why we draw them as a set rather than as individual souvenirs. A single Frankfurt magnet is a picture of a building. The five together are a picture of how a city changed.
Where to buy Strichwerke magnets in Frankfurt
Seven shops in Frankfurt stock our magnets.
- VielSeitig & Büchergilde, Am Salzhaus 1 — vielseitig-frankfurt.de
- Papier Kraemer GmbH & Co. KG, Liebfrauenstraße 1-3, 60313 Frankfurt am Main — papier-kraemer.de
- Buchhandlung Lesecafé, Diesterwegstrasse 7, 60594 Frankfurt am Main — buchhandlung-lesecafe.de
- Hessen Shop - Leipziger Str., Leipziger Str. 49, 60487 Frankfurt am Main — hessen-shop.com
- Hessen Shop Rödelheim, Lorscher Straße 7, 60489 Frankfurt — hessen-shop.com
- Hessen Shop - Kleinmarkthalle, Hasengasse 5-7, 60311 Frankfurt am Main — hessen-shop.com
- KULTUROTHEK Frankfurtladen, Markt 32, 60311 Frankfurt — kulturothek-frankfurt.de
Stock moves between shops, so check ahead before making a special trip. We do not publish live stock levels.
The full Frankfurt collection
Five designs, each a 5 by 7 centimetre magnet made in small batches in Germany from bookbinder greyboard with a recycled kraft paper surface, drawn as an orthographic line elevation.
The full city collection is at Frankfurt Fridge Magnets.
When this collection is not for you
- If you want a general Frankfurt souvenir. This set is deliberately narrow. It covers five specific buildings and the skyline, not the city's full architectural range.
- If you are looking for the cathedral or St. Paul's Church. Both are historically more important than some of what we draw, and neither is in the collection. We draw what we have drawn well rather than everything.
- If you want a photograph. These are line elevations, not photographs. If you want the city as it looks, buy a print.
Frequently asked questions
What are the main historical landmarks in Frankfurt? The Römerberg and the Römer city hall, the Frankfurt Cathedral where emperors were crowned, St. Paul's Church where the 1848 parliament met, the Eiserner Steg, and the Alte Oper. Our collection covers the Römerberg, the Eiserner Steg, the Alte Oper, the Europa Tower and the skyline.
Why is Frankfurt called Mainhattan? Because of its skyline. Frankfurt is the only German city with a cluster of skyscrapers, and the name is a portmanteau of the river Main and Manhattan. It hosts 20 of Germany's 21 skyscrapers.
When was Frankfurt founded? The first written mention is from 794, when Charlemagne presided over an imperial assembly at Franconofurd. There were Roman settlements in the area from the 1st century, and Stone Age settlement on the Kapellenberg.
Was Frankfurt ever the capital of Germany? It was the original choice for the provisional capital of West Germany in 1949, but Konrad Adenauer preferred Bonn. Frankfurt had been a free city-state for nearly five centuries until Prussia annexed it in 1866.
What happened to Frankfurt in the Second World War? It was severely bombed. Around 5,500 residents were killed and the medieval city centre was almost completely destroyed. More than 40 per cent of the city's buildings still date from before the war.
Sources and further reading
The history above comes from public reference sources. Wikipedia's entry on Frankfurt covers the imperial period, the free city, the 1848 parliament and the wartime destruction. Its entries on the Alte Oper, the Eiserner Steg and the Europaturm cover the individual buildings and their construction dates. The stockist details are taken from our own partners page.
We draw Frankfurt because the city's history is legible in its buildings, and a set of measured line drawings makes that legible in a way a single souvenir cannot. If you have walked from the Römerberg to the river, the collection is that walk in five pieces.