Frankfurt, The Financial Centre of Germany

pencil sketch of the visitors of the concert at the Alte Oper

Blog 12

During my spring visit to Germany, I spent some time in Frankfurt/Main. There is also another Frankfurt in the East of the country. This Eastern Frankfurt is situated along the river Oder in Brandenburg, while the Frankfurt in Hesse is on the river Main.


In my last blog, I wrote about my visit to Frankfurt's botanical garden, the Palmengarten (https://kerstinpeterspaintingblog.blogspot.com/2022/08/visit-to-palmengarten.html). For a landscape and animal painter like myself, the place was a paradise of inspiration. However, this is just one attraction Frankfurt am Main has to offer. 

Frankfurt/Main skyline with the river Main in the foreground

Frankfurt is the biggest city in Hesse, and many assume it is also the capital. However, Wiesbaden is the capital of Hesse. Frankfurt is the financial centre of Germany and offers many cultural sights that attract millions of tourists yearly. In this blog, I will present two of the not-to-be-missed attractions for tourists and citizens alike. 

 

Alte Oper, Frankfurt/Main - a photo from a previous trip

 

The Alte Oper (Old Opera) is a concert hall in Frankfurt/Main, where you can attend classical concerts, musicals, and concerts of famous stars of various music genres and dance performances. Some of the smaller halls in the building are also popular for congresses. Until its destruction by bombs in 1944, it was an opera house. Most of the outer wall survived the attack. Nevertheless, it took until the 1970s for the decision about the future of the building. In the end, citizens organized to collect money for the reconstruction.


The building is in the banking district of Frankfurt. When I still worked in one of the buildings, it was only about 5 minutes walking distance away. Looking back, I cannot comprehend why I did not spend more time in the square in front of the building, where a big fountain is a great spot to enjoy lunch. We were so focused on work that it seemed a waste to leave the building to eat outside. Instead, we often eat our lunch in front of the computer.

During my trip, I had the pleasure to attend one of the Sunday Concerts, the Jean Sibelius Concert for Violine and Orchester D minor, Op. 47 and the Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 1 C minor. Augustin Hadelich, the young violinist who played the solos during the Sibelius concert, was mesmerizing. The surroundings and the fantastic musicians made it a first-class event.

pencil sketches from the concert at the Alte Oper

 

 

 We sat far from the stage. I was struggling with the hands, but I caught enough to remember the musicians.

 

Städel Museum, Frankfurt/Main

A few days later, I had the pleasure of visiting another cultural centre in the city, the Städel Museum on the banks of the Main river owns one of the most important collections in Germany. This time, I saw the special exhibition, RENOIR. ROCOCO REVIVAL. The show examined how 18th-century Roccoco art influenced his impressionist style. The art was a treat for the eyes. You can check out the fantastic video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0PeT_HvlMA and the Städel Digitorial at https://renoir.staedelmuseum.de/en/.


Even without visiting a special exhibition, the Städel is worth a visit with its extensive collections of European art from the past 700 years.

We finished our visit with a fantastic lunch. From the terrace of one of the restaurants, we observed the Main and the many activities along the river. As it was asparagus season, it was amazing to see how creative the chefs used the vegetable on their menus. We even found an asparagus panna cotta with fruits. Did you know that white asparagus is the most popular variety in Germany? Farmers in Germany grow most of the white asparagus in Europe. The green asparagus is only slowly gaining in popularity.