Jewish Museum Frankfurt, Jewish history museum in Frankfurt, Germany.
The Jewish Museum Frankfurt occupies two historic buildings: the Museum Judengasse and the Rothschild-Palais in the city center. Together they present exhibitions on Jewish history, everyday objects, and community development spanning several centuries.
The museum was founded in 1988 and marked an important moment in Germany's approach to remembering its past. Its collections document the long Jewish presence in the city since the 15th century and the transformations it experienced.
Only the building at Untermainkai 15 is the Rothschild-Palais, named after Mayer Carl von Rothschild, who bought it in 1846; the museum itself is not named after the family. In 1895 the ground floor opened as the Freiherrlich Carl von Rothschild'sche öffentliche Bibliothek, founded by Hannah Louise von Rothschild in memory of her father. Three representative rooms from the Rothschild period survive.
The museum houses a library and archives where visitors can explore topics in depth, plus a café serving kosher and vegan options. Plan several hours to visit both locations, as they are within walking distance but each presents separate exhibitions.
The Judengasse was founded in 1460 as the first Jewish ghetto in Europe, not merely a settlement. When the 1987 excavations uncovered 19 house foundations, five were dismantled and rebuilt at cellar level of the new administration building, and the Museum Judengasse opened among them in 1992.
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