The early magic
Magic lanterns and image toys before cinema — the seventh art's childhood.
Burkhard Mücke — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Matti Blume — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dr. Thomas Liptak — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Burkhard Mücke — CC BY-SA 4.0
On Frankfurt's museum embankment stands the German Film Museum: a journey through the magic of the moving image, from nineteenth-century optical toys to digital effects, interactive enough that "how does film work?" becomes a question your own hands answer. The first floor holds the early magic: magic lanterns, dancing images, the Lumière brothers' first cameras. The second covers modern filmmaking — you try dubbing, editing and the green-screen trick, and stand inside famous scenes. The museum's cinema screens classics and rarities daily. A well-sized museum ideal for a wet day, set in the riverside museum row where its neighbours include the Städel art museum — a whole embankment of options in one walk.
Magic lanterns and image toys before cinema — the seventh art's childhood.
Dubbing, editing and green screen in your own hands.
Classics and rarities on a real screen daily.
Schaumainkai 41, 60596 Frankfurt
German Architecture MuseumThe German Architecture Museum sits on Schaumainkai, the stretch of the south ba1 minute walk4.0
MuseumsuferThe Museumsufer, or museum embankment, is the name given to the south bank of th2 minutes walk4.5
Museum for Communication FrankfurtThe Museum for Communication in Frankfurt traces how people have communicated th2 minutes walk4.6
The BibelhausThe Bibelhaus is a museum on Frankfurt's Museumsufer, but it is not a religious 3 minutes walk3.9
Museum Angewandte Kunst (Applied Arts)The Museum Angewandte Kunst is Frankfurt's design museum: how humans have design4 minutes walk4.3None — half is delightful physics of the moving image, half is playing with the industry's tools. Film buffs find extra depth; families find a well-judged interactive museum.
The Main's south bank lines up ten museums side by side — art (the Städel foremost), communication, architecture, cultures and more. Frankfurt's clever idea: walk the bank and enter whatever calls you.
From about seven, excellent — the interactive floor is built for them and the tricks enchant. The very young tire of the first history floor; start on the second in that case.