The Römer (German surname, "Roman") is a medieval building in the
Altstadt of
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
, Germany, and one of the city's most important landmarks. The Römer is located opposite the
Old St. Nicholas church and has been the
city hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
(''Rathaus'') of Frankfurt for over 600 years. The Römer merchant family sold it together with a second building, the ''Goldener Schwan'' (Golden Swan), to the city council on 11 March 1405 and it was converted for use as the city hall. The ''Haus Römer'' is actually the middle building of a set of three located in the ''
Römerberg
Römerberg is a municipality in the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approximately southwest of Speyer
Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical En ...
'' plaza.
The ''Römer'' is not a museum as it is occasionally used by the city for various purposes, for example as a ''
Standesamt
A Standesamt (German, plural "Standesämter") is a German civil registration office, which is responsible for recording births, marriages, and deaths.
Soon after the German Empire was created in 1871 from the previous collection of German states ...
'' or civil registration office;
the wedding rooms are located in the first and second floor of the ''Haus Löwenstein''.
The former old town quarter between the Römer and
St. Bartholomew's Cathedral has been redeveloped as the
Dom-Römer Quarter until 2018, including several
reconstructions of historical buildings that were destroyed during World War II.
Extensions
The building complex has been continuously extended over the years, with eventually eleven houses connected to each other, resulting in a rather confusing interior. At the beginning of the 19th century, Frankfurt historian remarked that the Frankfurt city hall had "stairs, yards, halls and rooms in a labyrinthian mixture".
In 1424, the city bought the ''Frauenrode'' house, in 1510 the ''Viole'' house and in 1542 the ''Schwarzenfels'' house, which were all architecturally connected to the main complex.
Then, in 1596 the city council bought the ''Wanebach'' house, which stood next to the ''Goldener Schwan'', as well as the building to the left of the ''Haus Römer'', the ''Haus Löwenstein'', and had both of them connected to the ''Römer''. These construction projects were very complicated, since the floor heights of ''Löwenstein'' and ''Römer'' were radically different.
In 1843, the ''Frauenstein'' house and the ''Salzhaus'' for 32,000
Guilder
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empir ...
s were added.
Finally, in 1878 the city bought the ''Alt-Limpurg'' house to the right of the ''Haus Römer''.
The current
neogothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
front with a balcony was built from 1896 more imposing,
but mayor
Franz Adickes decided against
Kaiser Wilhelm's suggestion and had the front designed in a more welcoming manner.
At the same time, the houses ''Frauenrode'' and ''Viole'' were demolished to make way for streets through the city centre. They were replaced by a newly erected building to the east. This new building is divided into two wings by the ''Braubachstrasse''. These two wings (the north wing and south wing) are connected by a bridge. The Frankfurt citizens, who paid their taxes in the north wing, named the covered bridge the ''Seufzerbrücke'' (the "Bridge of Sighs") in reference to the other
Bridge of Sighs
The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: ''Ponte dei Sospiri'', vec, Ponte de i Sospiri) is a bridge in Venice, Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone, has windows with stone bars, passes over the Rio di Palazzo, and connects the New Priso ...
in Venice. The two towers in the south wing attracted nicknames as well: the larger one was called ''Langer Franz'' (Tall Franz) in homage to the city's tall mayor and the smaller one the ''Kleiner Cohen'' (Small Cohen) after a popular song of the time.
On the night of 22 March 1944, the ''Römer'', along with the rest of the centre of Frankfurt, was largely destroyed in one of the
heaviest Allied bombing attacks of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
When the building was rebuilt after the war, the ''Alt-Limpurg'', the ''Römer'', and the ''Löwenstein'' houses, whose roof structure had in part withstood the attack, were restored in a simplified form. The completely destroyed houses ''Frauenstein'' and ''Salzhaus'' were rebuilt in a simplified style. The ''Löwenstein'' house has an open stairwell. The ''Römer'' was re-inaugurated in 1955 by president
Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss (; 31 January 1884 – 12 December 1963) was a German liberal politician who served as the first president of West Germany from 1949 to 1959. His cordial nature – something of a contrast to the stern character of chancellor Ko ...
.
![Frankfurt Am Main-Roemer-Roemerhalle-1553](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Frankfurt_Am_Main-Roemer-Roemerhalle-1553.jpg)
In the following decades the façade was restored two additional times, in the years 1974 and 2005, and the houses on the ''Römerberg'' regained the neogothic look of 1900. The interior has also been redesigned. In 1988 the renovated city council meeting hall was completed.
Architecture
The entire three-storey building complex occupies about 10,000 square metres and consists of nine houses, encircling six courtyards.
The front, with today's main entrance, faces the ''Römerberg'' plaza. Other streets around the ''Römer'' are the ''Limpurgergasse'' to the south and the ''Buchgasse'' and the ''Berliner Straße'' to the north. The ''Braubachstraße'' divides the south and north wings.
Façade
The exterior features of the set of buildings reflect a wide breadth of Frankfurt and Germany's history, even though they were designed at the beginning of the 20th century. The famous three-peaked façade has medieval elements of design. The left-hand corner of the ''Alt-Limpurg'' displays the so-called ''Frankfurtia'', the female embodiment of the city. In the middle, the ''Haus Römer'' shows the four
kaiser
''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...
s of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
, two city coats of arms, a clock face, and a placard describing the most important facts about the building. The four kaisers are
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...
(the first king to be elected in Frankfurt),
Louis the Bavarian
Louis IV (german: Ludwig; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328.
Louis' election as king of Germany ...
(who gave convention rights to the city and allowed an expansion of the city),
Charles IV (who made Frankfurt the location of the Kaiser selection vote), and
Maximilian II (the first kaiser to be crowned in Frankfurt cathedral).
Like the neogothic façade, the balcony was added after the rebuilding in 1900, replacing a wooden roof. The balcony was and is used as a public stage for state visits and sporting events
– for example, the soccer world champions in the
Women's World Cup in 2003 and the runners up in the 2002
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
.
Another approach was chosen for the design of the fronts of the two north-east houses (the ''Wanebach'' and the ''Salzhaus''). In contrast to the other houses in the complex, instead of reconstructing the old Wilhelminean front, the architects created a completely new design using a combination of medieval
timber framing
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
and modern styles. The
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
s in the timber frames feature the motif of a
phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
, a symbol for modern Frankfurt's new start after the war.
Rooms
''Römerhalle'' and ''Schwanenhalle''
These two halls are the oldest remaining rooms in the building and are virtually unchanged after 600 years. At one point, the first
Frankfurt book fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: Frankfurter Buchmesse, FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. It is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for internationa ...
s took place in these rooms and gold and silversmiths sold their merchandise there. After the Second World War, the rooms continued to be used for this purpose because the massively built structures had survived the war practically undamaged. The two halls are located on the ground floor of the houses ''Römer'' and ''Goldener Schwan'', and they can be entered directly from the main entrance on the ''Römerberg''.
''Kaisersaal''
Perhaps the best-known room of the ''Römer'', the ''Kaisersaal'', or ''Emperor Hall'', is located above the ''Römerhalle'' on the second floor and is a major tourist attraction. During the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
, coronation banquets took place there. Today, the ''Kaisersaal'' is well known for its unique and unparalleled collection of 19th century portraits of all of the emperors, including works by
Eduard Von Steinle
Eduard von Steinle (2 July 1810 – 19 September 1886) was a historical painter and member of the Nazarene movement.
Life
He was born 2 July 1810 in Vienna.
Steinle came successively under the influence of the painters Leopold Kupelwieser, ...
of
Albert I and
Ferdinand III.
See also
*
Mayor of Frankfurt
The Mayor of Frankfurt (German: (male) or (female), sometimes translated as "Lord Mayor") is the highest-ranking member of city government in Frankfurt, Germany. The mayor was traditionally elected by the city council. This system was replaced ...
*
Altstadt (Frankfurt am Main)
The Altstadt (''old town'') is a quarter (''Stadtteil'') of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the ''Ortsbezirk Innenstadt I''.
The Altstadt is located on the northern Main river bank. It is completely surrounded by the Innenstadt distric ...
References
Sources
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Further reading
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External links
Panorama Römer– Interactive 360 degree panoramas (in German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romer
Buildings and structures in Frankfurt
City and town halls in Germany
Tourist attractions in Frankfurt
Frankfurt-Altstadt