Roemerberg
Start where Frankfurt has always gathered. The Roemerberg has been the centre of the old town since the High Middle Ages, and it takes its name from the Haus zum Römer, the ‘Römer’ for short, which has served as the city hall since the 15th century. Look across to the eastern side, known as the Samstagsberg: its row of half-timbered houses was rebuilt at the start of the 1980s, and ever since the square has been a favourite with Frankfurters and visitors alike.
This square has seen almost everything the city has lived through. The Frankfurt trade fairs were held here, the imperial coronations of the early modern period were celebrated here, and today it hosts the Frankfurt Christmas market as well as large public and political rallies. When you picture an emperor's procession, picture it on these cobbles.
The ground tells a story too. At its highest point, the Samstagsberg rises about four metres above the hollows around it, which in the early Middle Ages were marshy or crossed by little streams. Along today's Braubachstraße ran an arm of the Main, the Braubach, which silted up in the Middle Ages, and the river itself was once much wider, its north bank roughly at today's Saalgasse. Until the 19th century a gate called the Fahrtor led from the square down to the harbour.
Northwards, the Neue Kräme, one of the old main shopping streets, leads to the Liebfrauenberg, the second large square of the medieval town. On the other side, a block that held the old stock exchange was never rebuilt after 1945, so the Roemerberg now opens straight onto the much enlarged Paulsplatz, where this walk will finish. From here it is 370 m, about 5 minutes, to the Kleinmarkthalle.
