8 Best Sights in Frankfurt, Germany

Germany's first museum of cinematography, set in a historic villa on "museum row," offers visitors a glimpse at the history of film, with artifacts that include "magic lanterns" from the 1880s, costume drawings from Hollywood and German films, and multiple screens playing film clips. Interactive exhibits show how films are photographed, given sound, and edited, and let visitors play with lighting and animation. A theater in the basement screens every imaginable type of film, from historical to avant-garde to Star Wars.

This is one of Germany's most important art collections, covering 700 years of paintings and sculpture, with a vast collection of paintings by Dürer, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Rubens, Monet, Renoir, and other masters. The downstairs annex features a large collection of works from contemporary artists, including a huge portrait of Goethe by Andy Warhol. The section on German expressionism is particularly strong, with representative works by the Frankfurt artist Max Beckmann and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. A free smartphone app with a built-in audio guide enhances the experience. There is also a café-restaurant, Holbein's.

The German Architecture Museum is housed in a late-19th-century villa, which was converted in the early 1980s by the Cologne-based architect Oswald Mathias Ungers. He created five levels, including a simple basement space with a visible load-bearing structure, a walled complex on the ground floor, and a house-within-a-house on the third floor. With more than 180,000 drawings and plans, and 600 scale models, the museum features a wealth of documents on the history of architecture and hosts debates and exhibitions on its future, including sustainable urban design. A permanent exhibit features the most comprehensive collection of model panoramas in the history of German architecture.

Re-opened in 2021 after a year-long renovation, this is one of the few museums in the world to exhibit a wide spectrum of the Christian Orthodox world of images, the art and ritual of icons from the 15th to the 20th century. More than 100 icons on display here are part of a collection that totals more than 1,000 artifacts. Admission is free on the last Saturday of the month.

The sculpture collection here represents 5,000 years of civilization and is considered one of the most important in Europe. Ancient Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, classicism, and the baroque are all represented. Some pieces are exhibited in the lovely gardens surrounding the historic brick villa with its signature turret tower. Don't miss out on the freshly baked German cakes in the museum café.

More than 30,000 decorative objects are exhibited in this modern white building designed by American star architect Richard Meier. Chairs and furnishings and medieval craftwork are some of the thematic sections you'll find on the same floor. The exhibits are mainly from Europe and Asia, including nine rooms from the historic Villa Metzler, spanning baroque to art deco.

This is the place for visiting the past and the future of communication technology, in an airy, modern glass building. Exhibitions on historic methods include mail coaches, a vast collection of stamps from many countries and eras, and ancient dial telephones, with their clunky switching equipment.

This museum, part of Goethe University, is set in a beautiful neoclassical villa along the strip of museums in Sachsenhausen and focuses on paintings from the 19th century and early 20th century. The artists are drawn mainly from the Rhine-Main region.