Stone against glass
A fifteenth-century tower in front of office façades — an image that sums up Frankfurt.
Jürgen Matern — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Felix König — CC BY 3.0 · Smuconlaw — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Flocci Nivis — CC BY 4.0
A gate tower from the early fifteenth century, one of the very few survivals of Frankfurt's medieval fortifications, standing today in the middle of a modern junction surrounded by office blocks. Its value is that it survived. Frankfurt's walls were pulled down in the nineteenth century to expand the city, its centre was then almost entirely destroyed in the Second World War, and the rebuilding filled it with glass towers that earned the city the nickname Mainhattan. That a Gothic tower of the 1400s still stands in the middle of that is unexpected. The contrast is itself the sight: stone, a conical roof and defensive galleries directly in front of glass façades. This is an image that sums up Frankfurt better than any single building in it. It is something you pass rather than visit: there is generally no interior open to the public, and you need no more than ten minutes in front of it. It stands at the edge of the main shopping district on the natural walking route through the centre, so it costs you no detour.
A fifteenth-century tower in front of office façades — an image that sums up Frankfurt.
The walls were demolished and the centre destroyed in the war; this tower remained.
It is already on your route between the station and the shopping streets.
Eschenheimer Tor, central Frankfurt
Dialogue MuseumThe Dialogue Museum is not a museum in the ordinary sense: there are no exhibits5 minutes walk4.6
LiebfrauenbergLiebfrauenberg is a small, quiet square in Frankfurt's shopping district, holdin6 minutes walk4.4
Alte OperThe Alte Oper is a large building with a classical columned front, standing on i7 minutes walk4.6
StaufenmauerThe Staufenmauer is a surviving piece of Frankfurt's first city wall, built in t8 minutes walk4.4
St. Paul's ChurchSt. Paul's is a round sandstone building in central Frankfurt. It matters not as8 minutes walk4.5The Römer square and its rebuilt timber houses are the heart of the old town minutes away, with Frankfurt cathedral and the riverbank museums to the south. The tower is a short stop inside that route rather than a separate destination.
Local accounts attribute its survival to old stories and customs, but practically it stayed in use after the walls lost their defensive purpose, and a building in use is harder to pull down. The result is that it remained when everything around it went.