Museums in Frankfurt
This financial heavyweight is also big on the arts
Frankfurt is not just a banking city and popular trade-fair destination, but Germany’s newest center for the fine arts. The city’s incredible art scene is the result of a boom in the building of museums during the 1990s, funded by the government and big businesses, meaning there is a fine arts gallery even in Frankfurt International Airport. Not to be outdone, independent curators put up alternative galleries with bohemian grunge to counterweight the big galleries. As a result, tourists can have the best art experience in this financial and airline industry center.
Frankfurt’s Museum Embankment
Fortunately for accidental tourists who need to rush, most of the museums and galleries are huddled in a compact area called the Museum Embankment or Museumsufer, with romantic views of the Main River and its ornate bridges. The neighborhood includes the 125-year-old Städelsches Kunstinstitut (Städel Art Institute), Frankfurt’s mother lode for sculpture and classical painting and sculpture, including works by Van Eyck, Rubens, and Vermeer. A short distance away is the triangular structure of the Museum for Modern Art with collections that encompass Lichtenstein, Oldenburg and Joseph Beuys. To visit the Museumsufer, take the subway to Willy-Brandt-Platz (northern bank) or Schweizer Platz (southern bank). The nearby Liebieghaus displays a comprehensive collection of statues from many countries.
Performance arts centers
The promenade that stretches for a mile along the Main River is also home to the German Film Museum, Museum for Applied Arts, the German Architecture Museum, the Museum of Post and Communication, and the Museum of World Cultures. Frankfurt nourished the growth of a ballet company in the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm. The impressive Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Museum of Applied Arts) has a small park that is a popular summer watering hole.
Outside the Embankment
There are other museums and fine arts centers in alternative areas around Frankfurt. Naturmuseum Senckenberg is a famous museum for grand exhibits on natural history such as dinosaur skeletons and preserved game animals. This museum is popular with children. You can reach it via tram or subway to Bockenheimer Warte.
The Jewish Museum is on the opposite riverbank and features 200 years of Jewish settlement in Germany. You can explore several lesser known but still world-class galleries in the Old Town or Altstadt in the vicinity of the Schirn Kunsthalle and the Römerberg. The Kunsthalle Schirn is for lovers of contemporary art near the Römerplatz. Famous among tourists is the Goethehaus und Goethemuseum, the birthplace of Germany’s most acclaimed poet.
When to visit
All in all, there are around 40 museums and fine arts destinations in Frankfurt. Most are closed on Mondays, and Wednesday is their busiest day, when money-scrimping tourists take advantage of free admissions. The best time of the year for culture vultures in Frankfurt is the month of August, when the Museum Embankment Festival or Museumsuferfest invites the public to free museum tours with outdoor concerts and food fairs on the riverbanks. Check online for the updated schedule of events in Museumsufer’s galleries.