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Having survived wars, occupation, plagues and the destructive lick of fires, the one thing that’s remained constant for Frankfurt am Main is its resilience as an international trade city.
From its inaugural fair in 1157 to becoming home to the European Central Bank in 1998, Frankfurt has been Germany's financial centre for centuries thanks to its geographical location on the Main River.
Originally documented as Franconovurt (City of Franks) as early as 794, there is evidence to suggest that the city’s cathedral hill had been under continuous settlement for many years before that, since at least 3000BC.
The Romans established a military camp in Frankfurt in AD83 and the Golden Bull decree, issued by Luxembourg Emperor Charles IV, made the city the permanent home for Roman kings from 1356 onwards.
Years of stability saw the Frankfurt Börse (Stock Exchange) begin trading in the late 16th century, but by 1614 the city was under Swedish occupation after the Holy Roman Empire was defeated in the Thirty Years’ War.
Thousands of its citizens then died in the 1630s following an outbreak of the plague, before two great fires tore through the Jewish Quarter in 1711 and 1721. Still, Frankfurt continued to shows its hardiness in times of adversity.
By the turn of the 19th century, the population had swelled to 35,000 and in 1804 the city council demolished Frankfurt’s fortifications and developed the grounds into parklands.
Boom years followed and between 1879 and 1914 Frankfurt started to establish its modern economic and cultural value. Its majestic opera house, Alte Oper, opened its doors in 1880 and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University began accepting students in 1914.
With a main train station installed in 1888, population grew by over 300,000 in some 30 years, and it was during this time that Lord Mayor Franz Adicke pushed for the city to become a industrial trade hub.
If Frankfurt's political aspirations were dashed by the choice of Bonn as capital of the Federal Republic in 1949, the city has wholeheartedly directed its post-war energies into its uncontested financial role.
In 1957, the Deutsche Bundesbank moved operations to the city and many other international financial institutions followed suit. Soon the skyline was dotted with high-rise skyscrapers such as AEG-Hochhaus, Bienenkorbhaus, Fernmeldehochhaus and Zürichhaus, which helped the city regain a sense of architectural character, something it lost in WWII.
Severely bombed by allied forces, nearly the entire medieval centre was destroyed in aerial attacks. However, the cathedral and a number of old buildings in the Römerberg area were reconstructed in their original style. Plans to rebuild the city’s old town to its original specifications are already underway too. Building is set to take place between the cathedral and the city hall and is due to be completed by 2016. Recently, the city has played host a slew of important sporting events including FIFA World Cup matches in 2006, the International German Gymnastics Festival three years later and the football finals of the Women’s World Cup in 2011. Frankfurt has become a remarkably cosmopolitan city. Estimates suggest that over 180 different nationalities live and work in the city with large Turkish, Korean and Sri Lankan communities among these. |
