Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Frankfort-on-the-Main

FRANKFORT-, in  or, one of the principal  of the , in the  of , in the n province of , and till  one of the four  of. It lies about 330 above the, in 50°6′ 43″N. and 8°41′ 9″E. , 22 s E. of and 16 s N. of. The position which it occupies is one of no small natural beauty in the broad and fertile of the, its northern horizon being formed by the soft outlines of the. The surrounding is richly clad with  and, and in the  of  especially presents a prospect of indescribable luxuriance. In earlier times the with its s had the form of an irregular, of which the longest side was defined by the right  of the ; but now that the s have been demolished, new s have spread out widely in all directions, and the  of  on the opposite side of  has extended in a similar fashion, so that the whole  of  occupation measures about 2 s from E. to W., and about 2 s from N. to S. Even within the old  great transformations have been effected, and much of the quaint domestic  and the intricate network of narrow s and s has given way to modern improvements. Only one side, for example, of the famous Judengasse or ’ is now standing, the other having been demolished since ; but the visitor can still see the  where  was  in, and the dingy and unpretentious premises of No.148 which saw the rise of the. When the whole of what remains of this has been pulled down and, as it must be ere long, there will still be many less celebrated parts of the old  of no small interest as eloquent relics of bygone conditions of life. In the modern quarters Frankfort will compare favourably, both in the general appearance of the s and in the of individual, with all except a very few of the greater  of the ; and almost every  this is becoming more certainly true. Among the more spacious s are the Schöne Aussicht or Beautiful Prospect along the, the Kaiser-Strasse or , and the Zeil. The of the  is largely concentrated in the Zeil, the Rossmarkt or , the Kaiser-Strasse, Friedens-Strasse, and their immediate vicinity.

The principal  in Frankfort is the  of Bartholomew’s, which is situated not far from  between the Domplatz on the N. and the Weekmarkt on the S. The date of its first foundation is not precisely known. A called Salvator’s was  on the site by  at least as early as, and he enriched it with considerable s, and instituted a  of twelve s and an. not only confirmed ’s s in, but he added a nona or ninth of the produce of Frankfort, , , , and other. In the the  obtained  of the  of, and by the  it appears to have been known as StBartholomew’s. The was by  in a very dilapidated condition; and consequently  urged the  of the  of  to contribute to its restoration. When in the  was appropriated to the   connected with the  of the, it was found necessary to enlarge its dimensions. The eastern portion, consisting of the and two s, was pulled down and  on a larger scale about, and in  the wings of the s and the    were added. The so-called Pfarrthurm or ’s was  between  and. In the interior was renovated; but on the night of the 14th   the whole  was laid in ruins by a. In, chief  of the  (or )  was entrusted with the work of restoration, and his task has been steadily prosecuted. The only portions of the enterprize uncompleted in were the  and the. In the interior are still to be seen the high at which after  the  s were celebrated, the  of the   of, who died in Frankfort in , and the  of , the last  of , who died in. The other  are Leonhardskirche and Liebfrauenkirche, and the Deutschhauskirche in. Leonhard’s ranks second to the cathedral in point of antiquity, and is said to occupy the site of the of. It possesses a  above the high, with a  by. ’s was founded in  by  of, was made  in , and underwent a restoration in the. Paul’s (Paulskirche), the principal of the, was  between  and  on the site of the old  of the , and is mainly interesting as the seat of the   of –. The of Nicholas (Nicolaikirche) dates from the, and has a fine    in. From to, and again from  to , it was used as a. Catherine’s was about – on the site of an older  famous in Frankfort history as the place where the first   was  in. The principal —there are three altogether—is a -  between  and  in room of an older  of the. Of the secular in Frankfort perhaps the most characteristic is the Rathhaus or Römer, which by a strange coincidence bears a  suggestive of, though not derived from, its principal  associations. It was here, in the Wahlzimmer or room, that the  or their  decided the choice of the, and here, in the Kaisersaal or ’s , the   was held, at which the new recipient of the  dined with the  after having shown himself from the  to the people assembled in the Römerberg, as the open place in front of the  is called. The dates from the, and occupies the site of the en  and two private s which from time immemorial had borne the  of the Römer. The Kaisersaal retained its antique appearance till ; but it is now ornamented with a series of modern by, , , and a score of other   representing the “”  from  to , in all fifty-two. The of the  of  is a large  in the old  of considerable  interest: from  to  it was the  of the “-,” or head of the ; after the  of  it was occupied by  of ; and from  to  the  of the  held its sessions within its s. The  is a picturesque relic of the ancient  dating from the.

Hardly any fact about Frankfort is more familiar to the reader of Goethe than that it has an old bridge over the Main, and that on the bridge there has been for centuries an iron crucifix surmounted by a somewhat insignificant figure of a cock, commemorating, according to tradition, the unfortunate fowl which first crossed the bridge, and thus fell a prey to the devil who, in hope of a nobler victim, had sold his assistance to the original architect. The first distinct mention of a bridge over the river occurs in, and the present structure dates from the. As late at least as 1475 the central span was not arched over. There are now fourteen arches in all, the total length of the bridge being 869 feet. The cock and crucifix are mentioned as early as 1405, and antiquaries assert that it probably marks the spot where criminals in the olden time were flung into the river. About half a mile below the old bridge a new bridge, called the “Unter-Main Brücke,” was constructed by P. Schmick, between 1872 and 1874; and about midway between the two lies the footbridge or “Steg,” erected by the same engineer in 1868-69, and the first example of its kind in Germany. The “Ober-Main” or Upper-Main Bridge was opened to traffic in the spring of 1878. Several other bridges for railway purposes are projected.

Few cities of the same size as Frankfort are so richly furnished with literary, scientific, and artistic institutions, or possess so many handsome buildings appropriated to their service. The town theatre was built between 1780 and 1827 in a Dutch-French style, and was restored in 1855; and as it has proved too small for the wants of the people, a new opera house has been erected near the Bockenheim gate, after the plans of Professor Lucä of Berlin. There is a public picture-gallery in the Saalhof, containing works by Hans Holbein, Grünewald, Vandyck, Teniers, Van der Neer, Hans von Culmbach, Lucas Cranach, Martin Schön, &c. The nucleus of the collection is of very ancient date; considerable additions were made in 1803 at the secularization of the monasteries; in 1839 Ernst Fr. K. Prehn's cabinet of more than 850 small oil-paintings was presented by his heirs, and 220 that had belonged to Johann G. Chr. Daems were added in 1856, in terms of his bequest. The Städel Art Institute (Städel'sche Kunst-Institut) takes its name from Johann Friedrich Städel, who not only left his collection of paintings, engravings, and other property to the town, but appropriated a million marks to the erection of an institute and college. Its picture gallery and cabinet of engravings are both extremely rich in works of German art: the latter in 1874 had 54,300 plates. In the town library, which is kept in a building erected between 1820 and 1825, there are upwards of 100,000 volumes; and among its rarer treasures are a Gutenberg Bible printed at Mainz between 1450 and 1455, another on parchment dated 1462, the Institutiones Justiniani, Mainz, 1468, the Thener-Dank, with woodcuts by Hans Scheufelein, Abyssinian manuscripts presented by the African traveller Rüppel, and autographs of Luther, Melanchthon, Wallenstein, Napoleon I., Goethe, Schiller, &c. The Bethmann Museum owes its celebrity principally to Dannecker's Ariadne, but it also possesses the original plaster model of Thorwaldsen's Entrance of Alexander the Great into Babylon. Among the scientific institutions perhaps the chief place belongs to those named after J. Chr. Senckenberg, the physician. Senckenberg himself founded both the Bürger or citizens hospital and the medical institute, with an anatomical theatre, botanical garden, and library; and a society of natural science (Senckenbergsche Naturforschende Gesellschaft) was instituted in his honour in 1817, and now possesses an extensive and valuable museum. Large gardens were opened for the

patients of the citizens hospital in 1851, and in 1875 new buildings were added. A physical association was founded in 1824, an association for geography and statistics in 1836, a medical association in 1845, the association for history and archæology in 1857, and the free German institute for science, art, and general culture in 1859. An association for the cultivation of classical and especially of church music (the Cäcilien-Verein) was instituted by Schelble in 1818, and a similar association (the Rühl'sche Verein) by Rühl in 1851; and there are several other musical unions, such as the Philharmonische Verein, the Liederkranz, &c. In 1858 a zoological garden was opened by a joint stock company near the Bockenheim Road; and in 1873 it was transferred to a new site on the Pfingstweide or Pentecost Meadow, and assigned to a new company. When in 1868 the duke of Nassau offered the plants of his winter garden for sale, a company, the Palm Garden Company, was formed at Frankfort, which purchased the collection, and established what is now the most beautiful of all the pleasure-grounds in the city.

Besides the Bürger Hospital already mentioned, Frankfort has several large institutions for the sick and infirm. The Holy Ghost Hospital, originally founded in for invalid pilgrims, is now appropriated to the servants and apprentices of Frankfort citizens. Its convalescent hospital, opened in 1868 at the Mainkur, was the first establishment of the kind in Germany. It maintains in each of the fourteen quarters of the town a physician, a surgeon, and an apothecary for the gratuitous assistance of the poor. The new asylum for the insane, with room for 200 patients, was erected between 1859 and 1863, partly by public subscription, and partly by a donation of 100,000 florins from Herr von Wiesenhütten. For its deaf and dumb institution the town is indebted to Ludwig Kosel, who in 1827 started with three pupils; and it was at his suggestion that the blind asylum was established by the society for the furtherance of the useful arts. The Waisenhaus or orphan asylum erected in 1829 is no longer employed for its original purpose, as it has since 1860 been thought better to board the orphan children with families in the neighbouring villages of Lich, Wächtersbach, &c. It is sufficient to mention the Jewish infirmary, built at the expense of the Rothschilds; the new Jewish hospital, erected in 1874; Dr Christ's children's hospital, originated in 1835; and the maternity hospital, opened in 1855. Among thenumerous associations for benevolent purposes are the Frauen-Verein or ladies union, founded in 1813 for the assistance of sick families and women in childbed; the Jewish ladies union for the education of orphan girls; the association originated in 1851 for taking charge of infants during the working hours; the Pestalozzi union (1846) for the education of neglected children, and its auxiliary the Schuboth institute for Protestant boys (1865); the prison association, dating from 1868; and the Martha asylum, dating from 1866.

Frankfort has always been much more of a commercial than an industrial town, and at present it manufactures little else but Frankfort black, waxcloth, jewellery, gold and silver thread, tapestry, and such like articles. Bockenheim, however, a small town with which it is connected by tramway lines, is a flourishing manufacturing centre; and the Frankfort capitalists are connected with the industrial enterprises of Wiesbaden, Hanau, Offenbach, &c. There are two great fairs held in the town,—the Ostermesse or spring fair, and the Herbstmesse or autumn fair. The former, which was the original nucleus of all the commercial prosperity of the city, begins on the second Wednesday before Easter; and the latter on the second Wednesday before the 8th of September. They last three weeks, and the last day save one, called the Nickelchestag, is distinguished by the influx of people from the neighbouring country. The trade in

leather is of great and growing importance. A horse fair has been held twice a since 1862 under the patronage of the agricultural society; and the wool market was reinstituted in 1872 by the German Trade Society. Frankfort has long been famous as one of the principal banking centres of Europe; and throughout the city there are upwards of 220 banking offices. The so-called “Frankfort Bank” was founded in 1854, with a capital of 10,000,000 gulden. The exchange occupies a building opposite the Paulskirche, erected since 1840 according to the plans of Stüler of Berlin; and it is remarkable for the large business that is done in Government stock. In the 17th century the town was the seat of a great book-trade; but it has long been distanced in this department by Leipsic. The Frankfurter Journal was founded in 1615, the Postzeitung in 1616, the Neue Frankfurter Zeitung in 1859, and the Frankfurter Presse in 1866. The zoological garden company publish a monthly magazine devoted to the popularization of natural history; and the Senckenberg society have issued Transactions since 1854-5.

There are four railway stations in Frankfort: by the Weser station the traveller leaves for Nauheim and Cassel, for Homburg, for Kronberg, and the north generally; from the Taunus station he proceeds along the right bank of the river to Mainz; from the Neckar station he leaves for Darmstadt and the south, and for Mainz by the line along the left bank of the river; and from the Hanau station he proceeds eastwards. In Sachsenhausen there is the Offenbach-Hanau station. The Neckar railway crosses the river by a bridge erected in 1846-48, which is also used by the Offenbach and the “Linksmainisch” lines. Several other bridges across the river are projected in connexion with the scheme for centralizing the railway systems. Communication within the town is facilitated by tramways; and there is also a line all the way to Bockenheim.

Frankfort has been the birthplace of not a few of the most celebrated men of Germany. J. G. Schlosser the his torian, Feuerbach the philosopher, Kirchner the scholar and naturalist, Clement Brentano, Bettina vou Arnim, and Ludwig Börne, are all in the list; but what the city considers its highest literary distinction is the fact that Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born in 1749 at No. 23 Hirschgraben. In 1863 the house was purchased for 56,000 florins by the Free German “Hochstift” (or Grand Association) for the sciences, arts, and general culture, and thus made for ever the common property of the German people. The society consists of members in all parts of the world, associated by admiration of the poet. Under the direction of Otto Volga the house has been as much as possible put into the state in which it was in Goethe's youth; and at the same time the rooms are turned into so many little museums of Goethe literature and art. On the high grounds to the south of the river there is a spot, now known as the Gothe Ruhe, or Goethe's Rest, where the poet is said to have admired the prospect of his native town, and there a tasteful wooden tower in the Swiss châlet style was built in 1877 by the Verschönerungs-Verein, or association for the beautifying of the city. The Goethe statue was erected in 1844 in what is now the Goethe Platz to the north of the Rossmarkt; it was designed by Schwanthaler, and cast in the royal foundry at Munich.

Of memorial monuments the largest and most elaborate in Frankfort is that erected in 1858 in honour of the early German printers. It was modelled by Ed. von der Lausitz and executed by Herr von Kreis. The statues of Gutenberg, Fust, and Schöffer form a group on the top; an ornamented frieze presents medallions of a number of famous printers; below these are figures representing the towns of Mainz, Strasburg, Venice, and Frankfort; and on the corners of the pedestal are allegorical statues of theology,

poetry, science, and industry. The Schiller statue, erected in 1863, is the work of a Frankfort artist, Dielmann. A monument in the Bockenheim Anlage, dated 1837, preserves the memory of Guiollet, the burgomaster, to whom the town is mainly indebted for the beautiful promenades which occupy the site of the old fortification; and similar monuments have been reared to Senckenberg (1863), Bethmann, and Wiesenhütten. A statue of Charlemagne adorns the old Main bridge.

The new cemetery (opened in 1828) contains the graves of Arthur Schopenhauer and Feuerbach, of Passavant the biographer of Raphael, Ballenberger the artist, Hessemer the architect, Sömmerring the naturalist, Dr Böhmer, and Städel. The Bethmann vault attracts attention by three bas-reliefs from the chisel of Thorwaldsen; and the Reichenbach mausoleum is a vast pile designed by Hessemer at the command of William II. of Hesse, and adorned with sculptures by Zwerger and Von der Lausitz. In the Jewish section, which is walled off from the rest of the burying-ground, the most remarkable tombs are those of the Rothschild family.

The present municipal constitution of the town dates from 1867, and conforms to the Prussian system. The electors choose 54 representatives for a term of 6 ; and every two a third of the number retire, but are eligible for re-election. The 54 representatives elect twelve town councillors, six of whom receive a salary and serve for 12, while the rest receive no salary and serve for 6 . The chief burgomaster is nominated by the king for 12, and the second burgomaster must receive the king s recognition. Since 1873 the town has been supplied with water from the Vogelsberg and the Spessart by the Frankfurter Quellwasserleitung Gesellschaft at the rate of about a million cubic feet per day, the natural pressure being sufficient to carry the water to the highest stories. The population of Frankfort has continued almost steadily to increase since the beginning of the century, the percentage varying from 0.1 in 1843 to 8.9 in 1872. In 1817 the civil population was 41,458; in 1840, 55,269; in 1849, 58,599; in 1855, 63,495; and in 1864, 77,372. The events of 1866 led to a decline, and in 1867 the number was only 75,918. By 1871 it had again risen to 89,265; in 1872 it was 97,230; in 1873, 102,680; and in 1875, 103,136. Including the suburban villages (Bornheim 10,085, Bockenheim 13,043, Oberrad 4609, and Rödelheim 3903), the total is 134,776.