20 Best Museums in Frankfurt, Germany

Frankfurt is a picturesque town on the River Main, a destination not to miss when visiting the vibrant country of Germany. Aside from the scenic landscapes, outstanding landmarks, and delightful boat rides, checking out the museums in Frankfurt is among the best things to do in town.

Many museums scattered across the city are easy to reach and explore. Museums in the town showcase various displays from historical artifacts, cultural items, different art masterpieces, and other interesting exhibits.

The museums in Frankfurt offer an opportunity to know the city more and access an incredible indoor adventure to seek in Germany. If you like such travel adventures, this list has the best museums in Frankfurt to add to your travel itinerary.

Best Museums in Frankfurt, Germany

1. Museumsufer

Address: Brückenstraße 3-7, 60594 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Museumsufer (or Museum Embankment) isn’t a museum but rather a collection of museums located along Brückenstraße. The museums are lined up against both riverbanks along the Main River.

The Museumsufer began to take shape in the early 1980s, pioneered by Hilmar Hoffmann, Frankfurt’s Kulturdezernent (a cultural politician). Hilmar proposed the idea for a collection of museums along the same line in Frankfurt in 1977, and his proposition eventually became a welcome development.

Continuous expansions have been carried out in the various museums along this stretch. Architects creating these other museums include Oswald Mathias Ungers, Richard Meier, Günter Behnisch, Josef Paul Kleihues, and Hans Hollein.

Some museums on the lineup include the Icon Museum, Museum Angewandte Kunst (Museum Applied Arts), and Museum der Weltkulturen (Ethnological Museum).

Also, Deutsches Filmmuseum [de] (German Film Museum), German Architecture Museum (Deutsches Architekturmuseum), Museum für Kommunikation (Communication Museum), and the world-famous Städel Museum. Each of the museums represents its collections and portrayals.

Some of the museums above have specific content. For example, the German Film Museum is a museum dedicated to films. If you want to see ancient apparatus used in the film industry, the German Film Museum is the place to be.

If you want to start your Frankfurt museum tour correctly, you’d be mad not to start here! Some top-quality accommodations are nearby, including the expensive AMERON Frankfurt Neckarvillen Boutique Hotel and the chic n’ discreet Star Apart Hotel Sachsenhausen.

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2. Städel Museum

Address: Schaumainkai 63, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Stadel Museum is dedicated to the arts. Officially, it is known as the Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie. The museum displays some of the most vital German collections.

The museum displays European paintings from seven countries, starting with some from the early 14th Century through the Late Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque periods and continuing into the 19th, 20th, and 21st Centuries.

The Städel Museum was established in 1817. This happens to be Frankfurt Museumsufer’s oldest museum. Its collection includes:

• 3,100 paintings
• 660 sculptures
• Over 4,000 photographs and drawings
• Over 100,000 prints

The Stadel Museum displays its exhibits in a 4,000-square-meter space and incorporates a library consisting of 115,000 books. In 2012, it won the best “Museum of the Year” title from AICA, the German Art Critics Association. In the same year, the museum recorded its highest number of visitors (447,395) since its opening. 

The museum’s items were relocated during the Second World War to protect them. They were to be secured in Schloss Rossbach, owned by Baron Thungen.

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3. Historisches Museum Frankfurt

Address: Saalhof 1, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The building that houses the Historisches Museum Frankfurt was built in 1878. It is dedicated to historical and cultural or traditional items representing the history of Frankfurt and Germany.

The museum’s current location was founded in 1955, with significant expansions in 1972. The extension of 1972, however, is being augmented by new contemporary developments, including an administration building.

The museum’s collections are displayed in different permanent exhibitions arranged chronologically. Exhibits concern Mediaeval Frankfurt, the Late Middle Ages, the 16th to 18th Centuries, and the 19th-century city. Special temporary exhibitions rotate throughout the year.

The museum’s exhibitions include the 1500-year-old St. Anne altarpiece from the Carmelite Church, the 1508-year-old Heller Altarpiece, and The Reconciliation of King Otto I with his brother Henry, Duke of Bavaria.

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4. Museum for Communication Frankfurt

Address: Schaumainkai 53, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Museum for Communication Frankfurt (or The Museum für Kommunikation) is one of the best museums in Frankfurt, Germany. It displays exhibits of different forms of communication.

It was opened in January 1958, then named Bundespostmuseum (National Postal Museum). Deutsche Bundespost was the original owner of the museum until 1994 when there was a transfer of ownership of the museum.

The current museum has been architecturally upgraded. The modern additions of large glass windows enable people to see the museum’s interior from the outside.

Gunter Behnisch designed the architectural plan for the museum’s modern structure. It was officially opened in 1990 and assumed a new name: The Museum for Communication Frankfurt.

This museum has communication exhibits on the telegraph, telephones, mail, radio, television sets, and computers of different ages. The main hall for the exhibition is on the underground level.

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5. Museum für Moderne Kunst (Modern Art Museum)

Address: Domstraße 10, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Museum für Moderne Kunst is translated in English to mean the Museum of Modern Art or MMK. It is one of the art museums in Frankfurt, Germany. It was established in 1981 but was inaccessible to visitors until 1991.

The museum’s structural design was another product of Hans Hollein’s design. The aforementioned Hans Hollein was a Viennese architect whose plan won the competition for architects to present their proposals for the new Museum für Moderne Kunst.

The museum’s triangular design earned it the description of “a piece of cake.” The idea for the museum came from the influential art and theater critic Peter Iden. Construction began in 1987 and cost about thirty-eight million dollars.

The museum’s exhibitions occupy 3,500 square meters. The building has three exhibition levels and an area for administration on the mezzanine. The museum’s collections are based on the collections of Karl Ströher, a German art collector, and 87 works of pop art and minimalism. Notably, the Museum of Modern Art has the MMK Zollamt, a satellite exhibition site established by MMK in 1999.

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6. Naturmuseum Senckenberg

Address: Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Naturmuseum Senckenberg Museum focuses on the region’s natural history. It is the second-largest museum of its kind in the country.

More specifically, children who love to view collections of dinosaur fossils will enjoy coming to the museum. It boasts the most extensive dinosaur exhibition in Europe. There is an impression of the footprint of a Titanosaurus on the floor, which is immediately noticeable once you step inside.

Different species of birds are listed here, with up to 90,000 bird skins on display and about 5,050 sets of eggs. The museum has a total collection of 17,000 skeletons!

The museum was built in the early 1900s near Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, established in 1914. The Senckenberg Nature Research Society owns the museum.

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7. Frankfurt Archaeological Museum

Address: Karmelitergasse 1, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Frankfurt Archaeological Museum, as the name implies, is an archaeological museum in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Go figure. It’s also handicap accessible.

The museum’s first domicile was the old Dominikanerkloster, which was heavily damaged during the Second World War. By the war’s end, some collections in the museum had been ruined due to the war. After the war, the museum was repaired and reopened to the public.

The museum seeks to present the natural history of the region, as well as the archaeology from Roman and Medieval times. These include recent archaeological discoveries from Frankfurt and its surroundings. Such archaeological exhibits include wide-ranging excavations.

Collections are constantly added to the museum, leading to a constant increase in its overall exhibits. The museum’s temporary exhibitions aim to display Europe’s vastly different cultures (including long-forgotten ones) to the public.

This museum manages open-air archaeological sites in the city. The Frankfurt Archaeological Museum also publishes research papers in its newsletter and other publications.

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8. Goethe House

Address: Großer Hirschgraben 23-25, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Before it became an outstanding museum, the Goethe House was the same building where the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in 1749.

Here also happens to be where he wrote his most famous works, including Gotz von Berlichingen, Faust, and The Sorrows of Young Werther. The author lived in this house until he was sixteen before relocating to Leipzig to study law. The museum that now resides here was opened in 1949.

The building had been the family home of the Goethes until 1795. Goethe’s grandmother bought the house in 1733. Goethe wrote about his childhood in the house in Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit.

In 1944, during the Second World War, the building suffered some damage from Allied air raids. Still, the house was restored to better shape between 1947 and 1951.

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9. Frankfurt Cathedral Museum

Address: Domplatz 1, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Frankfurt Cathedral (or Frankfurter Dom) is officially the Imperial Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew (or Kaiserdom Sankt Bartholomäus).

The Roman Catholic Gothic church is located in the Central part of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In the 19th Century, It was a significant symbol of unity. The Cathedral remained a significant building in the city and once served as a collegiate church.

It is not a true cathedral but a “Kaiserdom.” That means an “Imperial great church” or imperial cathedral, referred to as the Dom because of its significance as an election and coronation place in the Holy Roman Empire.

The current church building is the third church built on the same site. Excavations in the late 19th Century revealed that the buildings had been constructed on this site since the 7th Century. The church’s history remains closely linked to Frankfurt and the city’s old town.

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10. Ikonen-Museum Frankfurt a. M.

Address: Brückenstraße 3-7, 60594 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Ikonene Museum Frankfurt am Main (or The Icon Museum Frankfurt am Main) exhibits sacred art collections of Orthodox Christianity in Frankfurt. For this reason, it is also regarded as a popular spot for those interested in Christian art and artifacts.

The museum is located in the Deutschordenshaus building and is affiliated with the Museum of Applied Art, which Frankfurt sponsors.

The idea for this museum began in 1988, when Jorgen Schmidt-Voigt, a Konigstein doctor, donated up to eight hundred objects to Frankfurt. He’d made this donation with a condition: Frankfurt had to provide a room for its exhibition.

After that, Oswald Mathias Unger’s architectural design was implemented for the museum’s intended construction. The museum currently showcases exhibits dating back to the 16th Century and beyond.

In 1999, the Museum of Byzantine Art in Berlin permanently loaned the Icon Museum 82 post-Byzantine icons, bringing the collection to more than one thousand.

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11. Museum of World Cultures

Address: Schaumainkai 29-37, 60594 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Museum of World Cultures (or Weltkulturen Museum) is an ethnology museum housed in three adjacently positioned buildings on Schuaminkai.

The main building is at No. 29, the original villa at 35, and Gallery 37 at No. 37. Galaxy 37 famously displays items by artists from Africa, India, Indonesia, and Oceania.

More than 65,000 items are displayed in the museum, each originating from all continents. The museum is open to visitors, who can visit for relaxation, educational research, or other purposes.

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12. Caricatura – Museum for Comic Art

Address: Weckmarkt 17, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Caricatura Museum (or Caricatura Museum für Komische Kunst) is in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. This museum is dedicated to comic art and exhibits works by the Neue Frankfurter Schule (the new Frankfurt School) and contemporary artists.

On October 1, 2008, the Caricatura Museum officially opened in the Leinwandhaus in Altstadt. The Caricatura Museum’s permanent exhibition features artworks by F. K. Waechter, Hans Traxler, F. W. Bernstein, Robert Gernhardt, and Chlodwig Poth.

It also shows films and literary works. The main trademark associated with the Caricatura Museum is a bronze sculpture that stands right at the front of the building.

This bronze sculpture, known as the ‘Each Sculpture’, was made by Hans Traxler. It carries all the names of the Neue Frankfurter Schule’s most prominent artists.

Also written on the sculpture is a popular slogan by F. W. Bernstein – “Die schärfsten Kritiker der Elche waren früher selber welche”, which translates as “The hottest critics of the moose were formerly ones themselves”. Sage wisdom – but I bet it sounds better in German!

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13. Struwwelpeter-Museum

Address: Hinter dem Lämmchen 2-4, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Main is in the heart of Frankfurt, and in “New Old Town” lies the Struwwelpeter Museum. Struwwelpeter is a classic children’s book written by Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann. The Struwwelpeter Museum brings the world of the book to life in a colorful, vivid manner.

Regardless of age group, the museum offers an entertaining and informative experience. The exhibitions at the museum also showcase the versatility of the doctor and writer Heinrich Hoffmann. His work is seen and displayed in sketches, letters, first editions, and portraits at the museum.

His renowned picture book, which has spread across the globe, is shown in parodies, kitsch, art, and rare book exhibits. In addition to the permanent Struwwelpeter museum, there are exhibitions on children’s literature and cultural history. The museum shop has an array of books and souvenirs for sale.

The Struwwelpeter Museum offers young and old visitors many fun activities and games. The exhibition design provides an interactive experience for children, complete with a play route and story islands.

Older visitors and kids can travel the world with “Mr. Fix von Bickenbach” in 77 days – take that, Phileas Fogg! Visitors can dress up in the museum theater room and re-enact stories from the Struwwelpeter book on stage.

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14. Deutsches Architekturmuseum

Address: Schaumainkai 43, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The German Architecture Museum (or Deutsches Architekturmuseum, frequently shortened to DAM) is located in the Museumsufer, Frankfurt, Germany. The museum is housed in an 18th-century structure. The interior of the building was redesigned in 1984 by Oswald Mathias Unger as a collection of “elemental Platonic buildings within elemental Platonic buildings.”

The museum features a permanent exhibition, “From Ancient Huts to Skyscrapers,” which showcases the history of architectural development in Germany. The German Architecture Museum also holds numerous annual symposia, lectures, conferences, and temporary exhibitions.

There are about 180,000 architectural drawings, 600 models, and works by contemporary and modern classics like Frank O. Gehry, Erich Mendelsohn, Archigram, and Mies van der Rohe. The museum also has a reference library with about 25,000 books and magazines.

The permanent exhibition in the Deutsches Architekturmuseum has the most impressive collection of architectural panoramic models. The 24 large-scale models in the German Architecture Museum remarkably showcase how humans have evolved and affected the environment.

This permanent exhibition is a stunning ‘journey through time’ that starts with Stone Age architecture. It started with a roof from branches and leaves (the oldest verified man-made shelter). Today, you can marvel at 21st-century feats of architectural design.

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15. Liebieghaus

Address: Schaumainkai 71, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Located in Frankfurt is this late 19th-century villa known as the Liebieghaus. It houses a sculpture museum – the Städtische Galerie Liebieghaus. This museum is part of the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of the River Main. Since 2006, Max Hollein has been the director of the Städel Museum.

In 1896, the Liebieghaus was built in a historicist palatial style to serve as a retirement residence for Bohemian textile mogul Baron Heinrich von Liebig.

The Frankfurt government acquired the villa and dedicated it to preserving sculptures. 2009, the Liebieghaus was renovated, and the “Open Depot” was added.

This new addition was publicly accessible and allowed visitors to see parts of the sculpture collection, some of which were absent from the permanent exhibition.

The Liebieghaus Museum houses Roman, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sculptures. It also has Classicist, Renaissance, Baroque, and Medieval pieces and artwork from the Far East. The collection in the sculpture museum was put together mainly through endowments and international purchases.

Also, the collections are universal in range and have no specific link to the history of the art of Frankfurt—they’re just a ton of gorgeous sculpture work!

A garden containing several sculptures, including a Dannecker’s Ariadne on the Panther replica, encloses the museum building. The original one was acquired in 1810 by the banker Simon Moritz von Bethmann.

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16. DialogMuseum

Address: An der Hauptwache B-Ebene, Passage 10, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Dialogmuseum is not only a museum but a social enterprise. Its chief showcase is “Dialogue in the Dark—an exhibition to discover the Invisible.” In the museum, small groups of visitors are typically guided by visually impaired or blind experts through a ‘lightless’ tour from a themed room to a themed room.

This tour will bring a unique role reversal of the senses, empathy training, and insight into how inclusion can be a reality.

This unique exhibition concept was formulated 30 years ago in Frankfurt am Main. It is a remarkable instance of social entrepreneurship that offers blind individuals unique employment opportunities.

The DialogMuseum began operations in 2005 in Frankfurt on the Main. Since then, it has welcomed close to a million visitors. Its location within the center of Frankfurt makes it easily accessible to tourists. The museum can be reached by public transport at the Hauptwache station.

Underground lines U1-U3 and U6-U8 and S-Bahn lines S1-S6 and S8-S9 can also be used. Tourists and biking visitors can leave their bikes in the Hauptwache area. Finally, the escalators from Roßmarkt are directly next to the DialogMuseum main entrance, on the B-Level, passage 10.

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17. Karmeliterkloster

Address: Münzgasse 9, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Carmelite Monastery in Frankfurt serves as the main headquarters of the Institute for City History and the Archaeological Museum. From 1246 to 1803, it was a convent of the Carmelite order. The old Carmelite Monastery has housed the Institute for City History, the old Frankfurt City Archives, since 1959.

The city established an archive 1436 in the “Frauenmode” building in the Frankfurt city hall complex. The city archive has had its own office, complete with staff, since 1614. The archive’s holdings experienced mega growth in the 19th Century.

The monasteries and their files were secularized in 1803. These holdings were moved in 1942 during the Second World War, but some valuables suffered damage during bombing raids in 1944.

When the war ended, the city archive was moved from location to location before finally finding permanent residence in the Carmelite monastery.

In 2007, to mark the Golden Bull’s 650th anniversary, the Die Kaisermacher (The Emperor Makers) exhibition was jointly set up by four museums in Frankfurt.

This celebrated exhibition ran from September 30th, 2006, to January 14th, 2007. The Carmelite monastery stores documents of the Golden Bull’s history in its refectory. The “Reich Copy,” usually placed in a safe, was made publicly accessible during this exhibition.

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18. Jewish Museum Frankfurt / Museum Judengasse

Address: Bertha-Pappenheim-Platz 1, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main holds the record of being the oldest independent Jewish Museum in Germany. On November 9th, 1988 (the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht), the museum was declared open by Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

The Jewish Museum preserves, collects, and presents Frankfurt’s nine hundred-year-old Jewish culture and history from a European perspective. It has two permanent exhibitions.

The Museum Judengasse at Battonstraße 47 focuses on the cultural and historical themes of Jewish life in Frankfurt during the early modern period, and the Jewish Museum in the Rothschild Palais at Untermainkai 14/15 focuses on Jewish culture and history since 1800.

The Museum collection contains ceremonial culture, family history, and art themes. Extensive holdings in the Jewish Museum relate to the Anne Frank and Rothschild families.

The Ludwig Meidner Archive is responsible for the estates of the artists Ludwig Meidner, Jacob Steinhardt, Henry Gowa, and others. In addition, the museum has an extensive library and a document and photograph collection related to German-Jewish history and culture.

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19. Museum Giersch

Address: Schaumainkai 83, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Museum Giersch is located on the banks of the Frankfurt Main River, in the Museumsufer arena. This art gallery museum began operations in 2000. It showcases a constantly changing exhibition series showing the cultural and artistic history of the Rhine Mountain area, to promote the region’s cultural identity.

The Museum Giersch showcases works on loan from private and public collections. The exhibits cover graphic art, applied art, architecture, photography, sculpture, and painting.

This remarkable art museum is in a neoclassical villa structure on the Schaumainkai. This building was constructed around 1910 for the Philipp Holzmann company. It is currently one of the few villas surviving on the riverside in Sachsenhausen.

The Giersch Foundation (Stiftung Giersch), launched in 1994, renovated the villa and converted it into a venue for the exhibition. It has operated the museum as the sole operator since then.

The Museum Giersch of the Goethe University regards itself as the “University’s window” to the Rhine-Main region and the city of Frankfurt. For many years, the Giersch Museum has recorded success in presenting and researching regional art. This particular point gives the museum an edge in the Frankfurt museum industry.

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20. Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art)

Address: Römerberg, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is a museum located in Frankfurt, Germany. It is sandwiched between Romer and Frankfurt Cathedral. This museum thrives in exhibiting modern and contemporary art.

Schirn Kunsthalle Museum opened in 1986 and is managed by city and state resources. It has a rich history, dating back to World War II.

The term “Schirn” refers to open-air stalls for selling goods. Such stalls were set up here until they were destroyed during the Second World War. After the war, the Schirn Kunsthalle Museum was constructed as a modern and contemporary art exhibition venue.

Schirn Kunsthalle is one of the best art museums in Germany and has global ties. It has partnered with the Museums of Modern Art in New York and the Center Pompidou Museum in Paris.

Since its opening, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt has presented over 200 exhibitions, including Viennese Art Nouveau, Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, and many others. The subjects of these exhibitions vary from shopping to art and consumption.

Some exhibitions held at this museum with most visitors include the following:

• The Modern Eye
• Wassily Kandinsky – The First Soviet Retrospective
• Bohemian Life in Paris around 1900
• Women Impressionists – Berthe Morisot
• Marie Bracquemond
• Henri Matisse – Drawing with Scissors

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