Frankfurt

The ford across the Main

In the sixth century the Franks ruled the area on the Untermain (Lower Main) and established a settlement on the Domhügel (Cathedral Hill). The reason for the location of the settlement was a ford across the Main, which later gave the city its name. The ford functioned as a transport route and Charlemagne made what once probably only described a river crossing the name of the settlement: "Franconovurd". As a result of its position directly on the Main, the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt became a crossing point for European trade routes in the middle ages and for centuries it was the site of the coronation of the German Emperors. Even at that time, the city had already developed into an important European centre for finance and trade.

Business metropolis

Money is still at home in the business metropolis of Frankfurt: around 370 banks are based here and billions of euros change hands every day at the world’s fourth largest stock exchange.
Frankfurt’s airport is an international turnstile and it is Europe’s second largest with 45 million passengers a year. As a centre for trade fairs, the city attracts up to 2.7 million visitors each year. These come to the city on the Main to attend the book trade fair, music trade fair, or car show.

Culture on the river bank

With the Museumsufer (Museum Bank) on both sides of the Main, Frankfurt offers a very special cultural mile with the charm of a river landscape view. Over the last ten years thirteen new museums have been established in renovated villas and new modern buildings situated between the "Eiserner Steg" and "Friedensbrücke". These include a Museum of Film, a Museum of Architecture, the Museum for Applied Art and the Jewish Museum. With its triangular form, the new building housing the Museum of Modern Art reflects the art on show and in the vernacular it is also described as the "Tortenstück" ("Pie Slice").

The city’s most famous son

On 28th August 1749, at noon, with the clock striking twelve, I came into the world in Frankfurt am Main, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote in his autobiographical work "Poetry and Truth". The people of Frankfurt are proud of their great poet and thinker and have named streets and squares after him. The university, which was founded in 1914, also bears his name. Although Goethe spent most of his life in Weimar, Thuringia, some of his most important works were written in Frankfurt, including "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" (The Sorrows of Young Werther). Every year, more than 130,000 guests visit the house in Hirschgraben where Goethe was born.

Cosmopolitan city with a village atmosphere

While things sometimes get turbulent in the business centres and the banks’ skyscrapers, life is rather peaceful in the older districts of the city. Narrow alley-ways with half-timbered houses reinforce the village atmosphere. Street cafés invite visitors to linger a while in the summer. Here you can enjoy typical Frankfurt cider, known as "Ebbelwoi" in the Hessian dialect.

Frankfurt as a city of sports

The city offers an extensive range of popular sports and has already hosted several international sports events. The Frankfurt Waldstadion has already hosted numerous international games. The Football World Championship of 1974 was launched here. And in 2006 the stadium will once again be the venue for a World Cup.

For more than one hundred years, footballers of the famous clubs FSV Frankfurt and Eintracht Frankfurt have fought exciting contests on the pitch. It is not just men who have a role to play in international football, however: Frankfurt’s female footballers are among the world leaders. Women’s football has been played – more or less unofficially – on the city’s sports grounds since 1930. Today, seven female footballers from Frankfurt clubs play on Germany’s national team, which brought the title World Champions of Women’s Football home to Germany in 2004. Based in Frankfurt, the Organising Committee led by Franz Beckenbauer is in charge of preparing for and hosting the big football festival of 2006.