Frankfurt am Main, independent city in the administrative district of Darmstadt, on both sides of the lower Main, with (2019) 763 400 residents, the largest city in Hesse.
Frankfurt is located at the transition from the Mainz Basin to the Wetterau, 98 m above sea level, in the center of the Rhine-Main area and thus at the intersection of the connecting lines from north to south and east to west.
Frankfurt is the seat of the European Central Bank and several federal authorities: Deutsche Bundesbank, Federal Financial Supervisory Authority and Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy. Regional authorities in Frankfurt include: Oberfinanzdirektion, Oberlandesgericht; Frankfurt is also the seat of the Hessischer Rundfunk. Almost all large German and many foreign banks as well as the most important German stock exchange have their headquarters here; also currency exchange, real estate exchange and product exchange.
Over 20% of German banking transactions are carried out in Frankfurt. Many domestic and foreign trade and industry associations as well as over 100 insurance companies are represented in Frankfurt, as are consulates, consulates general and trade missions.
The university has been named (since 1932) after the city’s most famous son Johann Wolfgang Goethe University; It was opened as a municipal university on the basis of an academy for trade and social sciences (founded in 1901) in 1912, taken over by the State of Hesse in 1967 and has 48,100 students (winter semester 2017/18). Other important educational institutions are: Philosophical-Theological University Sankt Georgen, State University of Fine Arts – Städel School, University of Music and Performing Arts, University of Fresenius (Frankfurt location), International School of Management ([ISM] private, state-recognized; Frankfurt location), Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (private, state-recognized), Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Provadis School of International Management and Technology (private, approved by the State). In addition to the university’s research institutes, there are Max Planck Institutes for European legal history, for biophysics, for empirical aesthetics and for brain research; Sigmund Freud Institute, Frobenius Institute, German Institute for International Educational Research DIPF, Roman-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute and DGI German Society for Information and Knowledge. The Leibniz Institute Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research (PRIF; founded in 1970) is Europe’s largest peace research institute and the oldest in Germany. German Institute for International Educational Research DIPF, Roman-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute and DGI German Society for Information and Knowledge. The Leibniz Institute Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research (PRIF; founded in 1970) is Europe’s largest peace research institute and the oldest in Germany. German Institute for International Educational Research DIPF, Roman-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute and DGI German Society for Information and Knowledge. The Leibniz Institute Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research (PRIF; founded in 1970) is Europe’s largest peace research institute and the oldest in Germany.
Other cultural institutions are the Johann Christian Senckenberg University Library, the German National Library, the City Library and the library of the Free German Hochstift in the Goethe House, the German Broadcasting Archive, the Institute for Urban History, the Frankfurt City Theaters, the Alte Oper Frankfurt (concert and congress center), and several private theaters, Zoological Garden, Palmengarten and numerous museums, including the Städel, the Schirn Kunsthalle and the Senckenberg Nature Museum. The most important sports facilities are the Commerzbank Arena, the Fraport Arena and the ice rink. Frankfurt is the seat of the German Olympic Sports Confederation with the German Football Association.
Transportation
The city owes its development above all to the unique traffic situation. Today it is the most important traffic junction in Germany. The highways of Cologne, Hanover, Karlsruhe and Würzburg meet at the Frankfurter Kreuz to the southwest of the city center. Since the canalization of the Lower Main (1883–86) and the establishment of the Eastern Harbor (1907–12), the port has developed into an important inland port (total throughput of shipments and port rail traffic in 2017: 4.6 million t). The main railway station, an important railway junction since Prussian times, is one of the largest European railway stations: around 1,800 trains (including S-Bahn) run here every day. With the construction of a subway (since 1963), the concept of a rail-free city center has been realized in recent years. Frankfurt Airport (with its own long-distance train station).
Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport [- eəp ɔ ː t], Frankfurt / Main Airport, formerly unofficially Rhein-Main airport; by far the largest German airport and one of the most important hubs of continental European air traffic. It is also an important regional economic factor with around 80,000 jobs (including the operating company of the airport Fraport AG, Deutsche Lufthansa AG).
In order to cope with the constantly growing volume of traffic, Frankfurt Airport was expanded several times; important stages were the relocation of the runway thresholds since 1980, the construction of the west runway in 1984, the construction of the new passenger terminal 2 (1990-94), the construction of the north-west runway (2009-11) and the expansion of Terminal 1 (2009 -12). In 2015, the construction of Terminal 3 began.
In 2017, 64.5 million passengers were counted in civil air traffic at Frankfurt Airport. With a cargo handling of 2.2 million t, Frankfurt is the largest cargo airport in Europe. Frankfurt Airport is one of the three major air traffic hubs in Europe (alongside London and Paris). 70% of German intercontinental traffic is handled via Frankfurt. – A part of the area was used as a »Rhein-Main-Airbase« by the American armed forces until their withdrawal at the end of 2005.
