Museums, Frankfurt am Main

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The Schirn Kunsthalle, or Schirn Art Gallery, is an interesting structure located right beside the Dom. Its cylindrical main hall is complemented by various wings, all of which serve to give the Gallery the appearance of being larger than it actually is. It was originally opened in 1986 and generally specializes in the exhibition of modern and contemporary art. When I visited the Gallery, they had an exhibition of Mohács-Nagy works and a few of modern photographers. In all honesty, the Gallery’s fee is rather high for the quality of the exhibitions and for their display; either too much or too little explanation is given, and there is little context provided for the lesser-known artists they exhibit.

The Historische Museum, or Museum of History, is a long-standing cultural institution in the city of Frankfurt. It was originally opened in 1872 and was moved to its current location, with an entrance on the Römerberg, in 1955. An addition was opened in 1972, and the Museum now hold a collection documenting the history of the city of Frankfurt from the Middle Ages to the present. I was pressed for time and didn’t have the opportunity to visit this particular museum, although it is supposed to provide a fairly good view into the history of the city.

the german museum of architecture opened in 1984 and the building was designed by oswald ungers. it is the only architecture museum in europe. the museum has on display over 500 models of man's building history from a primeval hut to today's skyscrapers. the museum has a collection of over 160,000 architectural plans. for those interested in architecture this is a must see spot.

frankfurt's museum of sculpture is located in the 1896 villa of baron von liebieg. the liebieghaus has an excellent collection of egyptian, greek, and roman antiquities. there are also rooms devoted to medieval, renaissance, and baroque sculpture. a very worth while museum to visit when in frankfurt.

For many centuries Frankfurt was the place where the German kings/emperors were elected, later - from 1562 on - also crowned. Before this date the electors and the new kings had to travel to Aachen and the crowning took place there.

The constitutional contract which put down the details of the election was written in the year
1356. It was called the "Goldene Bulle", nothing to do with a bull at all. The case in which the seal was kept was kept was called a "Bulle", and since this was a royal seal it was made of gold.

Because of the 650th anniversary this year four museums in Frankfurt have put together a special exhibition.

The city archives - Institut für Stadtgeschichte- shows the original Goldene Bulle. For me, it was something really special to see this very old book. I was surprised how thin it was. Somehow I'm absolutely sure if a contract of this importance would be put together today, we'd be talking about 1000 pages at least, with paragraphes and sub-paragraphes and sub-sub-paragraphes.

The Jewish Museum dedicates its exhibition to the special relationship between the Frankfurt Jews and the emperor. As Frankfurt was a Free Imperial City there was no hereditary nobilty ruling the city, but an elected council. The next higher authority was the emperor.

The Dommuseum shows the religious part of the election. It was in the cathedral where the electors met and voted for the new king/emperor.

The History Museum shows the logistic problems of the election. I will write about this in the next tip, since otherwise it will be too long.

Sorry no pictures, I would have loved to take some, but it's not allowed in any of the museums.

Update January 30,2007:
The special exhibition is over and the "Goldene Bulle" can no longer be seen. But the museums are showing their regular exhibiton items and they are all worth a visit.

Planning the election of the new emperor meant:
Seven, in later years nine prince-electors come to Frankfurt. And the candidate. And their wives. And their servants. And their horses and carriages.(Several thousand !)
And their soldiers.
They have to stay somewhere. They have to be fed. Special meals have to planned,enough provisions have to bought.
Who is taking taking care of the music?
Enough hay for the horses, it has to be stored somewhere.
The city has to be cleaned before the election. And during the election - imagine what a
couple of thousand horses can drop! How to get rid of these droppings?
Beggars? They are supposed to leave the city.
Prostitutes? Officially, they are also supposed to leave the city, but on the other hand the city authorities know that many visitors want them to be in the city.
The religious leaders protest. How to calm them and yet provide this special service?
How can the citizens celebrate? Can the barrels of wine be hooked up to the fountains?
Free wine? Or do the citizens pay??

These are some of the questions the exhibition in the History Museum tries to answer. It is an fascinating exhibition. Quite randomly put together, a bit chaotic, but this way you really get an idea of the many problems Frankfurt faced at election time.

I loved one particular item. There is a small ship on wheels. It was put on the table for the banquets after the election and filled for example with salt. When someone sitting at the end of table said "Could you pass the salt, please" the ship was pushed and rolled down.Very practical.

I've been in the History Museum before and always had the feeling I was barely tolerated there as a visitor, something like a necessary evil whose entrance fee they needed.
This time there is a new staff, very friendly, multilingual and actually interested in the visitors. They've left their ivory tower!

The same update here, January 2007: The special exhibition is over, but if you have time enough go and see some of the museums here in Frankfurt.

Do you remember the old telephones? Grey, you had to dial instead of push and there was a cord, which always got entangled and you spent ages trying to straighten it out again? And just when you succeeded, you realized that this had broken the connection.
In the Museum fuer Kommunikation they made good use of these old phones: They turned them into a very special flock of sheep.
You can see them on the ground floor, opposite of the café in the museum.

Apart from the sheep, the museum has an interesting display of old and new methods of communication. There are also special exhibitions, but as far as I know,explanations are given in German only.

Wether u like museum sor not this is something not to miss; if u never heard about "architecture" simply go there to satisfy ur curiosity. If u r an architecture hardcore fan go there cause some interesting events are often hosted.
Check out the website to know what's going on ...