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Frankfurt (Main) is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany. Situated on the Main river, it is the seat of the European Central Bank and the largest financial centre in Germany.

The city's metropolitan area, the b, has a population of 4 to 5 million and is Germany's second largest.

Among English speakers it is commonly known simply as "Frankfurt", though Germans sometimes call it by its full name to distinguish it from the other Frankfurt in the German state of Brandenburg, known as Frankfurt an der Oder. It was once called b

Frankfurt has played a central role in the political history of Germany and the German states for centuries. From 855 to 1792 Frankfurt was the electoral city for the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. In the 1848-49 revolutions, it became a sort of revolutionary capital and was the seat of the first democratically elected German parliament, the Frankfurt Parliament, which met in the i, or the St. Paul's Church.

The three pillars of Frankfurt's economy are finance, transport, and trade fairs. Frankfurt has been Germany's financial capital for centuries, and it is the home of a number of major banks and brokerages. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange is Germany's largest, and one of the world's most important. Frankfurt houses the European Central Bank, which sets monetary policy for the Eurozone economy, and the German Bundesbank. It also houses a number of major commercial banks, including Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, and Commerzbank. Frankfurt's financial industry gives it the highest GDP per capita of major cities in Europe and makes it fifteenth in total GDP production as a city.[1]

The GaWC identifies Frankfurt as an Alpha World City.

Frankfurt has an excellent transportation infrastructure and a major international airport and European transportation hub, the Frankfurt International Airport. Depending whether total passengers or flights are used to measure, it ranks as the second or third busiest in Europe alongside London Heathrow Airport and Paris' Charles de Gaulle. In addition, many large trade fairs take place in Frankfurt each year, notably the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (i) and the Frankfurt Book Fair, which have far over 100,000 visitors each, but also important special interest fairs like the i.

Frankfurt is often nicknamed "Bankfurt" or "Mainhattan" (derived from the local Main River). It is one of only four European cities that have a significant number of high-rise skyscrapers. With eleven skyscrapers taller than 150 m (492 ft) in 2004, Frankfurt is second behind Paris (La Défense and Montparnasse, with twelve skyscrapers taller than 150 m, not counting the Eiffel Tower), but ahead of London (Canary Wharf and the City, with eight skyscrapers taller than 150 m) and Moscow (seven skyscrapers taller than 150 m). The city of Frankfurt contains the tallest skyscraper in the European Union, the Commerzbank Tower, which is also the second tallest on the continent (after the Triumph-Palace building in Moscow).

Yet Frankfurt has a different feel from New York City, and many residents prefer its nickname of "the smallest metropolis of the world." Despite the central concentration of tall buildings, the city has many open natural spaces and a spread-out city plan, which make some of the large buildings look a bit lonely in comparison to other global financial centres such as those in New York, Singapore, or Shanghai.

Frankfurt is also home to many cultural and educational institutions, the i. Frankfurt's second major university, Business School of Finance and Management, focuses on finance. The best-known museums are i Museum Judengasse.

During World War II Frankfurt was bombed heavily, and its medieval city centre was destroyed. The city recovered relatively quickly after the war, as it was the headquarters of the American occupying power.

, Roman settlements were established, probably in the first century; some artefacts from that era are found to this day. The city district i (Heddernheim) was also a Roman civitas capital.

The name of Frankfurt on the Main is derived from the i) denotes a low point passage across a stream or river. Alemanni and Franks lived there and by 794 Charlemagne presided over an imperial assembly and church synod, at which i ("free"), Frankfurt was a "free ford," an opportunity to cross the river Main without paying a toll.

In the Holy Roman Empire, Frankfurt was one of the most important cities. From 855 the German kings and emperors were elected in Frankfurt and crowned in Aachen. From 1562 the kingsemperors were also crowned in Frankfurt, Maximilian II being the first one. This tradition ended in 1792, when Franz II was elected. He was crowned, on purpose, on Bastille Day, 14 July, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. The elections and coronations took place in St. Bartholomäus cathedral, known as the i (en: Frankfurt trade fair) was first mentioned in 1150. In 1240, Emperor Friedrich II granted an Imperial privilege to its visitors, meaning they would be protected by the Empire. Since 1478 book trade fairs have been held in Frankfurt, the i being still the most important in Germany and, some might say, the world.

In 1372 Frankfurt became a i (en:Imperial city), i.e. directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor and not to a regional ruler or a local nobleman.

Frankfurt managed to remain neutral during the Thirty Years' War, but it suffered from the bubonic plague that was brought to the city by refugees. After the end of the war, Frankfurt regained its wealth.

In the Napoleonic Wars Frankfurt was occupied or cannonaded several times by French troops. After the total defeat of the allies, it found itself among the vassal states of France within the Confederation of the Rhine (1806-1813; only Prussia kept out), soon as the new seat of the only i ('[[Prince-Primate]'], i.e. Chairman of the Diet and the College of Kings, 25 July 1806 - 19 October 1813: Karl Theodor Anton Maria Kämmerer von Worms, Reichsfreiherr von Dalberg (b. 1744 - d. 1817), 1803 - 1806 Prince-archbishop of Regensburg), The formally sovereign i ("prince of Venice", a primogeniture in Italy?), remained a short episode lasting from 1810 to 1813, when military tide turned in favor of the Anglo-Prussian lead allies.

After Napoleon's final defeat and abdication, the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815, redrawing the map of Europe) dissolved the grandduchy, and Frankfurt entered the newly founded German Confederation (till 1866) as a free city, becoming the seat of its i, the confederal parliament where the nominally presiding Habsburg Emperor of Austria was represented by an Austrian "presidential envoy".

After the ill-fated revolution of 1848, Frankfurt was home to the first German National Assembly (i) (see German Confederation for details) and was opened on 18 May 1848. The institution failed in 1849 when the Prussian king declared that he would not accept "a crown from the gutter". In the year of its existence, the assembly developed a common constitution for a unified Germany, with the Prussian king as its monarch.

Frankfurt lost its independence after Austro-Prussian War as Prussia annexed in 1866 several smaller states, among them the free city of Frankfurt. The Prussian administration incorporated Frankfurt into its province of Hesse-Nassau. The formerly independent towns of Bornheim and Bockenheim were incorporated in 1890.

In 1914 the citizens of Frankfurt founded the University of Frankfurt, later called Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. This is the only civic foundation of a university in Germany; today it is one of Germany's largest universities.

In 1924 Ludwig Landmann became the first Jewish Mayor of the city, and led a significant expansion during the following years. However, during the Nazi era, the synagogues of Frankfurt were destroyed.

The city of Frankfurt was severely bombed in World War II. About 5 500 residents were killed during the raids, and the once famous medieval city centre, by that time the largest in Germany, was destroyed. The reconstruction after the war took place in an (often-simple) modern , thus irrevocably changing the architectural face of Frankfurt. Only very few landmark buildings have been reconstructed historically, albeit in a simplified manner.

After the end of the war Frankfurt became a part of the newly founded state of Hesse, consisting of the old Hesse-(Darmstadt) and the Prussian Hesse provinces. Frankfurt was the original choice for the provisional capital of West Germany - they even went as far as constructing a new parliament building that has never been used for its intended purpose, and is now a TV studio. In the end, Konrad Adenauer (the first post-war Chancellor) preferred the tiny city of Bonn, for the most part because it was close to his hometown, but also for another reason; many other prominent politicians opposed the choice of Frankfurt out of concern that Frankfurt, one of the largest German cities, and a former centre of the old German-dominated Holy Roman Empire, would be accepted as a "permanent" capital of Germany, thereby weakening the West German population's support for reunification and the eventual return of the capital city to Berlin.

Frankfurt is a multicultural city. Most immigrants are from Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, or Italy. About 175 different nationalities reside in Frankfurt.

For a long time Frankfurt was a Protestant-dominated city. However, during the 19th century an increasing number of Catholics moved to the city. Today some 45 % of the inhabitants are Protestant, 37 % Catholic. Other religious groups (18 %) include Muslims and Jews. Frankfurt has the second largest Jewish community (after Berlin) in Germany.

The city is located on both sides of the Main River. The southern part of the city contains the Frankfurt City Forest (Frankfurter Stadtwald) Germany's largest urban forest.

To the West, Frankfurt borders the Main-Taunus district (Cities and Municipalities Hattersheim am Main, Kriftel, Hofheim am Taunus, Kelkheim (Taunus), Liederbach am Taunus, Sulzbach (Taunus), Schwalbach am Taunus and Eschborn); to the Northwest the Hochtaunuskreis (Cities Steinbach (Taunus), Oberursel (Taunus) and Bad Homburg v.d. Höhe); to the North the Wetteraukreis (Cities Karben and Bad Vilbel); to the Northeast the Main-Kinzig district (Municipality Niederdorfelden and the city Maintal); to the Southeast the city Offenbach am Main; to the South the Offenbach district (City Neu-Isenburg); and to the Southwest the Groß-Gerau district (Cities Mörfelden-Walldorf, Rüsselsheim und Kelsterbach).

are incorporated suburbs, or Vororte, or previously separate cities. Some like Nordend arose during the rapid growth of the city in the Gründerzeit after the unification of Germany. Others were formed from settlements, which previously belonged to other city divisions, like Dornbusch (Frankfurt am Main).

The 46 city divisions are combined into 16 area districts or i

Until the middle of the 19th century, the city territory of Frankfurt consisted of the present-day i of Altstadt, Innenstadt, Bahnhofsviertel, Gutleutviertel, Gallusviertel, Westend, Nordend, Ostend and Sachsenhausen. After 1877, a number of previously independent areas were incorporated into the city, see list of current districts of the city.

) is a Gothic building, which was constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries on the foundation of an earlier church from the Merovingian time. It is the main church of Frankfurt. From 1356 onwards, kings of the Holy Roman Empire were elected in this church, and from 1562 to 1792, emperors were crowned here.

Since the 18th century, Saint Bartholomeus' has been called "the cathedral" by the people, although it has never been a bishop's seat. In 1867, the cathedral was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in its present

The name of the town hall means "Roman". In fact, nine houses were acquired by the city council in 1405 from a wealthy merchant family. The middle house became the town hall and was later connected with the neighbouring buildings. In the upper floor, there is the i ("Emperor's Hall") where the newly crowned emperors held their banquets.

The Römer was partially destroyed in World War II, and later rebuilt.

) is a national historic monument in Germany with great political symbolism, because it was the seat of the first democratically elected Parliament in 1848. It was established in 1789 as a Protestant church but was not finished until 1833. Its importance has its root in the Frankfurt Parliament, which met in the church during the revolutionary years of 184849 in order to write a constitution for a united Germany. The attempt failed because the monarchs of Prussia and Austria did not want lose power, and in 1849 Prussian troops ended the democratic experiment by force of arms and the parliament was dissolved. Afterwards, the building was used for church services again.

St. Paul's was partially destroyed in World War II, particularly the interior of the building, which now has a modern appearance. It was quickly and symbolically rebuilt after the war; today it is not used for religious services, but mainly for exhibitions and events.

, Frankfurt's famous opera house, was built in 1880 by the architect Richard Lucae. It was one of the major opera houses of Germany, until its was destroyed in World War II. It was not until 1981 that the old opera was fully rebuilt and reopened. Today it functions as a concert hall and operas are performed in the Oper Frankfurt. The in

The Oper Frankfurt is the leading opera company of Germany and one of the most important opera houses in the world.

Frankfurt is unique for its skyscrapers, and it is the only European city to allow skyscrapers within the old central part of town. Along with Paris and London, it also is one of the few European cities to have a significant numbers of skyscrapers.

The major skyscrapers are:

a grain silo owned by Henninger Brewery with observation deck and restaurant, open to the public and offering a breath-taking view over downtown Frankfurt from its south shore.a telecommunications tower known as the "Frankfurt TV Tower". Until 1999, it was open to the public, with an entertainment establishment in the revolving top.

Frankfurt hosts several festivals, fairs, and carnivals throughout the year. The most famous is the Rheingau-Music-Festival with many (mostly classical) concerts at castles and under the open sky surrounded by vineyards. It takes place each May. Another major festival, which takes place in Frankfurt, is the "Museumsuferfest"; "Museum-Riverbank-Festival". It is one of the biggest cultural festivals in Germany, which offers the opportunity to see, buy, smell, taste and hear new things from all around the world. The festival takes place yearly at the end of summer and attracts an average of 3 million visitors. The festival goes over a period of 3 days and ends with a spectacular show of fireworks. Frankfurt ist also known for having one of the greatest red light districts in Germany in vicinity of the main train station.

360°-Panoramas of Frankfurt - Indoor and outdoor day- and night-time panoramas, in full screen and with soundAltfrankfurt - Gives an impression of the splendour of pre-war Frankfurt and its destruction in World War II