Frankfurt was at the center of German political culture
throughout the middle ages. According to Wikipedia, Charlemagne himself hung
out in Frankfurt in the 790s. The city
became capital of “East Francia”, the headquarters for the “Kingdom of the East
Franks” in the 800s and 900s. At one
point, the Saalhof Castle was built in Frankfurt and became the home of Carolingian
royalty during the 1100-1200s. The place
was later occupied beginning in the 1300s by the family of wealthy merchant
Jacob Knobloch.
Somewhere I read a commentary that it was precisely because
Frankfurt is so significant in German history that the Allies gave it extra
hard treatment during the War. In fact, it looks like they obliterated nearly all of the original medieval-era neighborhoods in and around the Alstadt (old town) of Frankfurt.
Here’s a image of what the the historic part of old Frankfurt looked
like after WW II bombing:
Notice the charred, roasted, bombed-out cathedral near the river. Just to the left of that is the site of the sprawling Saalhof Castle estate. As you can see here, most of the structure above-ground was destroyed.
Despite the devastation, the Frankfurt Historical Museum today sits on top of a part of the Saalhof Castle site. The Museum now has on display in the castle’s cellars items from the original Carolingian palace that was there during the 1100’s, including fragments of Romanesque-like pillars, and a stone from the
wealthy family that lived there afterwards. It’s just a cellar with some remnants that remains today, but the display tells a great story.
In addition, a 12th
century chapel that was associated with the castle complex amazingly survived
the WWII bombing at least partly intact. There is also a part of the old city wall that was excavated. The pictures I took of the chapel and the wall
turned out horrible so I can’t include them here --but I encourage anyone to go
see them.
Anyway, here are a few
scenes of the Castle cellar. They include items I assume were handpicked salvaged from the war rubble.
And this was my favorite.
It’s from the 1200s and is of a face carved into a wash basin.
I recommend a visit to the Frankfurt Historical Museum to
anyone traveling through the area. Here is their webpage on this display:
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