Top 8 Attractions in Hesse

Popular Hesse landmarks and tourist spots

• 1 Römer

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  Serving as the city hall of Frankfurt am Main for over 600 years, the Römer is situated in the Altstadt and is one of the city’s most distinctive landmarks. The three-story complex consists of nine houses encircling six courtyards and exhib-its medieval architectural elements, including its iconic stepped gable facade. The Alt-Limpurg building displays the Frankfurtia, which is the female embodi-ment of the city, while the Haus Römer exhibits the four kaisers of the Holy Ro-man Empire - Frederick Barbarossa, Louis the Bavarian, Charles IV and Maximilian II ...

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• 2 Städel Museum

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  Boasting one of the most important collections of art in Germany, the Städel Museum has a history that dates back to 1815 when it was founded by Frankfurt banker Johann Friedrich Städel. It was moved to its current Gründerzeit-style building in Frankfurt’s Schaumainkai museum district in 1878 and has grown its collection to more than 2,700 paintings and around 600 sculptures, as well as a significant number of drawings and prints ...

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• 3 Goethe House

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  Set within the family’s former residence, Goethe’s birthplace is now open to the public as a house museum celebrating the writer’s life and work. Goethe lived here until 1765 when, at the age of 16, he moved to Leipzig to study law. He de-scribed his childhood spent in the family home in his autobiography “Out of my Life: Poetry and Truth”, which was written between 1811 and 1833. It was in this house that Goethe wrote “Götz von Berlichingen” (1773) and his first widely recognized novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” (1774), as well as beginning work on “Faust” ...

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• 4 Edersee Dam

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  Spanning the Eder River in northern Hesse, the Edersee Dam was constructed between 1908 and 1914 near the small town of Waldeck. It was breached by Allied bombs during World War II in an event that was portrayed in the 1955 film, “The Dam Busters”. Unlike the Mohne Dam that had anti-torpedo nets and anti-aircraft guns installed, the Edersee Dam had little defense as the Germans believed it impossible to penetrate ...

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• 5 Frankenstein Castle

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  Overlooking the city of Darmstadt in southern Hesse, the Frankenstein Castle is a hilltop landmark that is believed to have inspired Mary Shelley’s 1818 Gothic novel “Frankenstein”. It’s one of many historic castles that dot the Hessische Bergstrasse (“Hessian Mountain Road”), which winds through the Odenwald Mountains and is renowned for its vineyards. The name “Frankenstein” translates from German as “Stone of the Franks” and the castle was built in the early 13th century by Lord Conrad II Reiz of Breuberg, the founder of the free imperial Barony of Frankenstein ...

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• 6 Saalburg

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  The most completely reconstructed Roman fort in Germany, the Saalburg lies on the main ridge of the Taunus mountain range, part way between Bad Homburg and Wehrheim. It has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and forms part of the Limes Germanicus, a line of frontier fortifications that bound the ancient Roman provinces. Evidence indicates that a simple wood and earth fort was first established here in 90 AD before being replaced by a larger cohort fort in 135 AD ...

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• 7 Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe

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• 8 Mathildenhöhe

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  Home to the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony, Mathildenhöhe was founded in 1899 by Ernest Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse with the aim of radically reforming the arts in his region. Art Nouveau artists Peter Behrens, Paul Bürck, Rudolf Bosselt, Hans Christiansen, Ludwig Habich, Patriz Huber and Joseph Maria Olbrich were invited to live and work in the colony, with their work financed by wealthy patrons. Mathildenhöhe has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its role in the development of architectural Modernism ...

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