Frankfurt am Main

Lore & Background

Frankfurt was first mentioned in a document in 794 and has been an imperial city since 1372. Frankfurt was a city state, the Free City of Frankfurt, for nearly five centuries, and was one of the most important cities of the Holy Roman Empire, as a site of Imperial coronations; it lost its sovereignty upon the collapse of the empire in 1806, regained it in 1815 and then lost it again in 1866, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia following the Austro-Prussian War. It has been part of the state of Hesse since 1945. Frankfurt is culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse, with half of its population, and a majority of its young people, having a migrant background. A quarter of the population consists of foreign nationals, including many expatriates. In 2015, Frankfurt was home to 1,909 ultra high-net-worth individuals, the sixth-highest number of any city.

Reader's Guide

Frankfurt is a global hub for commerce, culture, education, tourism and transportation, and is the site of many global and European corporate headquarters. Due to its central location in former West Germany, Frankfurt Airport became the busiest in Germany, one of the busiest in the world, the airport with the most direct routes in the world, and the primary hub for Lufthansa, the national airline of Germany and Europe's largest airline. Frankfurt Central Station is Germany's second-busiest railway station after Hamburg Hbf, operated by Deutsche Bahn, the world's largest railway company, whose Frankfurter division DB InfraGO manages the largest railway network in Europe.

Frankfurter Kreuz is the most-heavily used interchange in the EU. Frankfurt is one of the major financial and business centers of Europe, with the headquarters of the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, KfW, Commerzbank, DekaBank, Helaba, several cloud and fintech startups, and other institutes. Automotive, technology and research, services, consulting, media and creative industries complement the economic base.

Frankfurt's DE-CIX is the world's largest internet exchange point. Messe Frankfurt is one of the world's largest trade fairs. Other major fairs include the Music Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest book fair. The city also has 93 consulates, among which the largest is the US Consulate General.

Frankfurt is home to influential educational institutions, including the Goethe University with the Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt (Hesse's largest hospital), the FUAS, the FUMPA, and graduate schools like the FSFM. The city is one of two seats of the German National Library (alongside Leipzig), the largest library in the German-speaking countries and one of the largest in the world. Its renowned cultural venues include the concert hall Alte Oper, continental Europe's largest English theater and many museums, including the Städel, Liebieghaus, German Film Museum, Senckenberg Natural History Museum, Goethe House and Schirn art venue.

Frankfurt's skyline is shaped by some of Europe's tallest skyscrapers, which has led to the term Mainhattan. The city has many parks and major botanical gardens. Roughly 52% of the city area is green.