Brunnen am Kaiserplatz , Frankfurt, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The Brunnen am Kaiserplatz is a fountain on Kaiserplatz, a small square off Kaiserstraße in the heart of Frankfurt's banking district. It stands among some of the city's best-known addresses for money and hospitality, including the Frankfurter Hof hotel and the Commerzbank Tower, which makes it a good spot to understand how Frankfurt became Germany's financial centre.

The story behind it

Frankfurt has been a trading city since the Middle Ages, and in the 19th century private banks turned that trade into finance. Wealthy Jewish families, among them the Rothschilds, played a large part in that rise, and the streets around Kaiserplatz still carry the stamp of that era in their grand bank and hotel buildings.

The Frankfurter Hof opened in 1876 and was designed with a Renaissance-inspired exterior meant to signal class and refinement. It was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt afterwards, so it also reflects the postwar recovery. Across the street, the Junior-Haus with its spiralling staircase dates from 1951 and housed a Mercedes-Benz showroom for around 50 years. Among the customers of that era was Rosemarie Nitribitt, the Frankfurt woman whose story has made the postwar years of money and glamour famous. Nearby, the Commerzbank Tower was completed in 1997, rises 259 metres over 56 floors, and was Europe's tallest building when it opened.

What to look for

• Take in the fountain itself, then look up at the buildings around the square, which show how different the city's eras are within a few steps.
• Study the Renaissance-style facade of the Frankfurter Hof, built to impress guests in the 1870s.
• Find the spiralling staircase of the Junior-Haus, the former Mercedes-Benz showroom from 1951.
• Look up at the Commerzbank Tower, whose height contrasts sharply with the 19th-century banking houses along Kaiserstraße.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 10 to 15 minutes for the square itself, longer if you wander along Kaiserstraße and the nearby streets.
• It is an open public place, so you can see it at any time, but daylight shows the facades best.
• For a view over the city, the observation platform of the Maintower is the usual choice; check current opening hours before you go.
• The square lies in the city centre, so it combines easily with a walk to the Hauptwache or the main station.

See it on a quest

The fountain is one stop on Sex, Money & Murder: The Rosemarie Nitribitt Tour in Frankfurt, a self-guided walk through the area. You reach it on foot as part of a longer route, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle in front of what you see. It fits the setting well, since the streets here are tied to the money and glamour of postwar Frankfurt. You can start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join, and one ticket covers the whole group.