Frankfurt
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Coordinates: 50°06′38″N 08°40′56″E
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This article is about the city in Hesse, Germany. For other uses, see
Frankfurt (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Frankfort or Frankfurt (Oder).
Frankfurt am Main
Frangford am Maa (Hessian)
City
Frankfurt's skyline with Taunus and Europaturm
Frankfurt Cathedral
European Central Bank
Messeturm
Römerberg
Alte Oper
Old town in Höchst
Flag of Frankfurt am Main
Flag
Coat of arms of Frankfurt am Main
Coat of arms
Location of Frankfurt am Main within Hesse
Frankfurt am Main is located in GermanyFrankfurt am MainFrankfurt am
Main
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Coordinates: 50°06′38″N 08°40′56″E
Country Germany
State Hesse
Admin. region Darmstadt
District Urban district
Founded 1st century
Subdivisions 16 area districts (Ortsbezirke)
46 city districts (Stadtteile)
Government
• Lord Mayor Mike Josef[1] (SPD)
• Governing parties Greens / SPD / FDP / Volt
Area
• City
248.31 km2 (95.87 sq mi)
Elevation 112 m (367 ft)
Population (2023-12-31)[4]
• City
749,596
• Density 3,000/km2 (7,800/sq mi)
• Urban 2,319,029[3]
• Metro 5,604,523[2]
Time zone UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST) UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
60306–60599, 65929–65936
Dialling codes 069, 06101, 06109
Vehicle registration F
Website frankfurt.de Edit this at Wikidata
Frankfurt am Main[a] (lit. 'Frank ford on the[b] Main') is the most populous
city in the German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022
make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany.[c] Located in the foreland
of the Taunus on its namesake Main, it forms a continuous conurbation
with Offenbach am Main; its urban area has a population of over 2.7
million. The city is the heart of the larger Rhine-Main metropolitan region,
which has a population of more than 5.8 million and is Germany's second-
largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr region and the fourth
largest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union (EU). Frankfurt
is one of the de facto four main capitals of the European Union (alongside
Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg), as it is home to the European
Central Bank, one of the institutional seats of the European Union, while
Frankfurt's central business district lies about 90 km (56 mi) northwest of
the geographic center of the EU at Gadheim in Lower Franconia. Like
France and Franconia, the city is named after the Franks. Frankfurt is the
largest city in the Rhenish Franconian dialect area.
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 (though neutral) by the Kingdom of Prussia.
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. As of 2023, Frankfurt is the 13th-
wealthiest city in the world and the third-wealthiest city in Europe (after
London and Paris).[8]
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 the 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,[9] whose Frankfurter division DB InfraGO
manages the largest railway network in Europe.[10] Frankfurter Kreuz is
the most-heavily used interchange in the EU. Frankfurt is one of the major
financial centers of the European continent, with the headquarters of the
European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, 2 of the top 5 central
banks worldwide, 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. 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 [de] (Hesse's
largest hospital), the FUAS, the FUMPA, and graduate schools like the
FSFM. The city is one seat 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, 26 of which line up along the Museumsufer,
including the Städel, Liebieghaus, German Film Museum, Senckenberg
Natural 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 notable green areas and parks,
including the Wallanlagen, Volkspark Niddatal [de], Grüneburgpark, the
City Forest, two major botanical gardens (the Palmengarten and the
Botanical Garden Frankfurt) and the Frankfurt Zoological Garden. Frankfurt
is the seat of the German Football Association, is home to the first division
association football club Eintracht Frankfurt, the Löwen Frankfurt ice
hockey team, and the basketball club Frankfurt Skyliners, and is the venue
of the Frankfurt Marathon and the Ironman Germany.
Distinctions
Frankfurt is the largest financial hub in continental Europe. It is home to
the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock
Exchange and several large commercial banks. Frankfurt has many high-
rise buildings that form its renowned Frankfurt skyline. In fact, it is one of
the few cities in the European Union (EU) to have such a skyline. The
Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the world's largest stock exchanges by
market capitalization and accounts for more than 90 percent of the
turnover in the German market.
In 2010, 63 national and 152 international banks had their registered
offices in Frankfurt, including Germany's major banks, notably Deutsche
Bank, DZ Bank, KfW, Deka Bank and Commerzbank, as well as 41
representative offices of international banks.[11] Frankfurt has been
nicknamed Mainhattan and Bankfurt. The city is also noted for its unique
timber-framed old town. The Römer area has been most recently in the
Dom-Römer Project and hosts the Frankfurt Christmas Market. The
Saalgasse complements the timbered romanticism with postmodern
houses by 12 different architectural firms.[12]
Frankfurt is considered a global city as listed by the GaWC group's 2012
inventory.[13] Among global cities it was ranked tenth by the Global Power
City Index 2011 and 11th by the Global City Competitiveness Index 2012.
Among financial hubs, the city was ranked eighth by the International
Financial Centers Development Index 2013 and ninth in the 2013 Global
Financial Centres Index.
Its central location in Germany and Europe makes Frankfurt a major air,
rail, and road transport hub. Frankfurt Airport is one of the world's busiest
international airports by passenger traffic and the main hub for Germany's
flag carrier Lufthansa. Frankfurt Central Station is one of the largest rail
stations in Europe and the busiest junction operated by Deutsche Bahn,
the German national railway company, with 342 trains a day to domestic
and European destinations.[14] Frankfurter Kreuz, also known as the
Autobahn interchange and located close to the airport, is the most-heavily
used interchange in the EU, used by 320,000 cars daily.[15] In 2011
human-resource-consulting firm Mercer ranked Frankfurt as seventh in its
annual 'Quality of Living' survey of cities around the world.[16] According
to The Economist cost-of-living survey, Frankfurt is Germany's most
expensive city and the world's tenth most expensive.[17]
Etymology
Frankonovurd (in Old High German) or Vadum Francorum (in Latin) were
the first names mentioned in written records from 794. It transformed to
Frankenfort during the Middle Ages and then to Franckfort and Franckfurth
in the modern era. The name is derived from the Franconofurd of the
Germanic tribe of the Franks; Furt (cf. English ford) where the river was
shallow enough to be crossed on foot.
"The Discovery of Frankfurt by Charlemagne" by Leopold Bode (1888)
Thietmar of Merseburg in the 11th century reported a founding legend in
which Charlemagne and his army of Franks discovered the ford at
Frankfurt when a doe crossed over it, showing them the way; in honor of
this the city was named "ford of the Franks".
By the 19th century, the name Frankfurt had been established as the
official spelling. The older English spelling of Frankfort is now rarely seen
in reference to Frankfurt am Main, although more than a dozen other
towns and cities, mainly in the United States, use this spelling, including
Frankfort, Kentucky, Frankfort, New York, and Frankfort, Illinois. The New
York Times first used the Frankfurt spelling for Frankfurt am Main on 24
October 1953 and last used the Frankfort spelling on 10 June 1954.
The suffix am Main has been used regularly since the 14th century. In
English, the city's full name of Frankfurt am Main means "Frankfurt on the
Main" (pronounced like English mine or German mein). Frankfurt is located
on an ancient ford (German: Furt) on the river Main. As a part of early
Franconia, the inhabitants were the early Franks, thus the city's name
reveals its legacy as "the ford of the Franks on the Main".[18]
Among English speakers, the city is commonly known simply as Frankfurt,
but Germans occasionally call it by its full name to distinguish it from the
other (significantly smaller) German city of Frankfurt an der Oder in the
Land of Brandenburg on the Polish border.
The city district Bonames has a name probably dating back to Roman
times, thought to be derived from bona me(n)sa (good table).
The common abbreviations for the city, primarily used in railway services
and on road signs, are Frankfurt (Main), Frankfurt (M), Frankfurt a. M.,
Frankfurt/Main or Frankfurt/M. The common abbreviation for the name of
the city is "FFM". Also in use is "FRA", the IATA code for Frankfurt Airport.
