The highlights in the Historical Museum

The well-known Old Town model was built for the museum by the brothers Hermann and Robert Treuner between 1925 and 1961. It shows the state of the historic buildings and streets in 1927 and thus documents the Old Town, which was almost completely destroyed by the bombing of Frankfurt in the Second World War. The socially and hygienically untenable conditions of the time are not visible in the neatly painted alleyways and facades of the model. In this sense, the model was always a construct: it created a reduced, harmonious, romantic and homogeneous image of Frankfurt's old town that probably never existed.

The insignia of the German kings and "Roman" emperors were kept at various locations in the empire until the 15th century. Alongside Aachen and Nuremberg, Frankfurt was something of a capital of the Old Empire from the 12th century onwards: 31 kings and emperors were elected here and ten were also crowned. The copies made in 1913 were part of a larger "commemorative program" of Frankfurt's tradition as a place of election and coronation.

The silver bowl from the 12th/13th century is a very valuable and rare find. There are only a few surviving silver objects from this period. The location and quality of the bowl suggest that it was used by a king. To date, it is the only piece of evidence of courtly lifestyle in Frankfurt during the Hohenstaufen period. It was probably used to serve salt - a luxury item at the time. The bowl was found in the 1980s during excavations for the underground car park on Frankfurt's Römerberg and was probably part of a larger silver ensemble.

Around 1280, the Saalhof lost its function as a royal residence. The building was rebuilt and extended several times. The wealthy wool and cloth merchants Heinrich and Johann Bernus had the Saalhof extended into a representative Baroque city palace in 1715/17. The building was extended again in 1841 by the Frankfurt architect Heinrich Burnitz. The original spiral staircase survived the bombings of the Second World War unscathed.

An important exhibit on the Staufer period is the building itself, the Stauferbau. The semi-circular Saalhof Chapel was added to the east wall of the residential and defensive tower, which had been built just a few years earlier, shortly after 1200. The fact that it was built later is shown by the clear construction joint with which it is attached to the tower. Access was through the preserved corridor from the hall of the palace building. Today, the chapel houses the "Morgenstern'sche Miniaturkabinett". The three painters and restorers worked for almost all Frankfurt collectors of their time.

Since the 16th century, the city library has not only collected books, but also rare, precious and curious objects. And as Frankfurt merchants needed to know where their trading partners and goods came from, precious astronomical instruments were also kept. The highlight of this collection, if not the entire museum, is Johannes Schöner's terrestrial globe from 1515. It is the oldest globe in the world with the inscription "AMERICA" on the southern half of the New World.

An outstanding work in the painting collection is the late medieval Annenretabel by the Master of Frankfurt (1504). It was commissioned from the Antwerp painter for the Dominican Church. The closed altar presents two saints on each of four panels in gray painting; when opened, the central image with the Holy Kinship and the two wings with the birth and death of Mary can be seen.

Johann Valentin Prehn (1749-1821) belonged to the artisan class as a confectioner. However, the quality of his products must have earned him such a good reputation and income that he could afford to acquire a large art collection. He amassed over 800 small-format paintings in 32 wooden hinged boxes. There was probably no other collection like it in Germany! Prehn had a particular fondness for landscapes, sacred history paintings, portraits and genre pieces. Occasionally, a penchant for curiosities, amusing, bizarre and erotic subjects is noticeable, including "an object in love", which - as was common in the 17th century - is shamefully concealed behind a curtain.

Park landscapes, a palace backdrop and Chinese people among exotic plants can be seen on it. And yet the vase is not a piece from the Far East, but a Frankfurt product. Painted blue on a fine white tin glaze, the Frankfurt faiences, which were produced between 1666 and 1772 in the Porzellanhof near the Konstablerwache, imitated the elegant Chinese models. The Frankfurt entrepreneur Wilhelm Kratz (1873-1945) developed a passion for these unusual products from his home town and collected over 800 pieces from the Frankfurt faience manufactory.

The four-storey Rententurm was built in the middle of the 15th century together with the Fahrtor. In front of it was the harbor, where all trade goods arrived via the Main. In the "Rentamt", the customs office on the first floor of the tower, the duties for the import and export of goods were collected. For over 500 years, the tower was not open to the public. As part of the renovation of the museum's old buildings, the clock was also restored to give the Rententurm its characteristic 19th century appearance with the two large black dials. The historic tower clockwork is a pendulum clockwork from 1937.

In addition to studying plants, the Frankfurt citizen Johann Christian Fellner (1800-1883) was particularly interested in old weapons. When a municipal historical museum was founded in his home town in 1877, Fellner decided to donate the entire collection to the city of Frankfurt. Since then, the items have formed the core of the museum's "Militaria Collection". The Zischägge, a Hungarian balaclava, is a special piece. It still has parts of the original leather lining from the 17th century, which is rarely preserved.

One of the oldest painted city views of Frankfurt was created by the painter Jakob Marrel (1613-1681), the stepfather of Maria Sibylla Merian, who was born in 1647. Marrel created the painting in 1651, when he finally settled in Frankfurt. It combines a floral still life with butterflies and other insects with a view of Frankfurt from the west. Both of Marrel's grandfathers were jewelers from Wallonia. At the end of the 16th century, up to 8,000 Flemish religious refugees had found refuge in Frankfurt. They helped the impoverished city to flourish economically and culturally.