The seat of the
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centr ...
(ECB) is an office building complex in
Frankfurt
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 it ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. It comprises a twin-tower skyscraper and the former
Wholesale Market Hall (''Großmarkthalle''), with a low-rise building connecting the two. It was completed in 2014 and was officially opened on 18 March 2015.
The ECB is required by the
Treaties of the European Union
The Treaties of the European Union are a set of international treaties between the European Union (EU) member states which sets out the EU's constitutional basis. They establish the various EU institutions together with their remit, procedures ...
to have its seat within the city limits of Frankfurt, the largest
financial centre in the
Eurozone
The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro ( €) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU polici ...
.
The ECB previously resided in the
Eurotower and, as its duties increased due to countries joining the Eurozone, in three further high-rise buildings nearby - the
Eurotheum,
Japan Center and Neue Mainzer Straße 32–36, the former head office of the
Commerzbank.
Architecture
The main office building, constructed for the ECB, consists of two towers that are joined by an atrium with four interchange platforms. The North tower has 45 storeys and a roof height of , whereas the South tower has 43 storeys and a roof height of . With the antenna, the North tower reaches a height of . The ECB premises also includes the Grossmarkthalle, a former wholesale market hall built from 1926 to 1928, fully renovated for its new purpose.
History
Development
In 1999, an international architectural competition was launched by the bank to design a new building. It was won by a
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
-based architectural office called
Coop Himmelb(l)au
Coop Himmelb(l)au (A pun meaning ''Coop Sky Building'' and ''Coop Sky Blue'') is an architecture, urban planning, design, and art firm founded by Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky, and Michael Holzer in Vienna, Austria in 1968.
History
Coop Him ...
. The building was to be 185 meters tall (201 meters with antenna), accompanied by other secondary buildings on a landscaped site on the site of the former wholesale market (Großmarkthalle) in the eastern part of Frankfurt. The main construction work was planned to commence in October 2008, with completion scheduled for before the end of 2011.
Construction was put on hold in June 2008 as the ECB was unable to find a contractor that would build the Skytower for the allocated budget of €500 million due to the bidding taking place at the peak of the pre-
late-2000s recession bubble. A year later with prices having fallen significantly the ECB launched a new tendering process broken up into segments.
File:Grossmarkthalle002.jpg, Großmarkthalle site (2006)
File:European Central Bank Headquarters (model 01).jpg, Model seen in 2011
File:European Central Bank - new building under construction - Frankfurt - Germany - 23.jpg, Construction in 2012
File:Europäische Zentralbank - European Central Bank (19190136328).jpg, Building at night (2015)
File:Europäische Zentralbank Frankfurt.jpg, Seat of the ECB seen from northwest (2019)
It is expected that the building will become an architectural symbol for Europe and is designed to cope with double the number of staff who operate in the Eurotower.
The total cost of the project was between 1.3 and 1.4 billion euros. For the total surface of 185,000 square meters, this gives a building cost in excess of 7,000 euros per square meter.
Opening
Staff began moving into the new building in November 2014, and the building was officially opened on 18 March 2015.
The opening was marked by a three-day protest organised by the
Blockupy movement.
Ulrich Wilken, an organizer and member of the
Hesse state assembly for the
Die Linke party, said: “Our protest is against the ECB, as a member of the
troika
Troika or troyka (from Russian тройка, meaning 'a set of three') may refer to:
Cultural tradition
* Troika (driving), a traditional Russian harness driving combination, a cultural icon of Russia
* Troika (dance), a Russian folk dance
Pol ...
, that, despite the fact that it is not democratically elected, hinders the work of the Greek government. We want the austerity politics to end.”
Police used water cannon
A water cannon is a device that shoots a high-velocity stream of water. Typically, a water cannon can deliver a large volume of water, often over dozens of meters. They are used in firefighting, large vehicle washing, riot control, and mining ...
s and tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...
against protestors, while demonstrators threw stones at police, firefighters and Frankfurt's trams, and set fire to cars and barricades.
Headquarters Agreement
The seat of the European Central Bank enjoys special legal protections granted by an agreement with the German government
The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...
. It is illegal to enter the ECB's premises to enforce a court order or execute a search warrant. It is also illegal to confiscate materials on the ECB's premises. The German government has a duty to protect the Central Bank against intruders, including foreign agents and protestors.
See also
* European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centr ...
* Eurotower
* Institutional seats of the European Union
The seven institutions of the European Union (EU) are seated in four different cities, which are Brussels (Belgium), Frankfurt am Main (Germany), Luxembourg (Luxembourg) and Strasbourg (France), rather than being concentrated in a single capita ...
* List of tallest buildings in Frankfurt
The tallest structure in Frankfurt is the Europaturm, which rises however, the observation tower is not generally considered a high-rise building as it does not have successive floors that can be occupied. The tallest habitable building in Fr ...
* List of tallest buildings in Germany
This is a list of the tallest buildings in Germany that stand at least tall. Only habitable buildings are ranked, which excludes radio masts and towers, observation towers, steeples, chimneys and other tall architectural structures. For those, ...
* List of tallest buildings in the European Union
This list ranks the tallest buildings in the European Union that stand at least tall, based on standard height measurement. This means that spires and other architectural details are included in the official height, but not Radio masts and towe ...
References
External links
Documentary
Architect's website with page on the project
{{Euro topics
Buildings and structures of the European Union
Coop Himmelblau
European Central Bank
Buildings and structures completed in 2014
Skyscrapers in Frankfurt
2014 establishments in Germany
Skyscraper office buildings in Germany