Atlas holds the world above the door of one of Europe’s busiest stations, behind it, a forest of iron and glass.
At a glance
Frankfurt’s central station opened in 1888 as one of the largest railway terminals in Europe, designed by Hermann Eggert with engineering by Johann Wilhelm Schwedler. Behind a stone Neo-Renaissance front, crowned by a sculpture of Atlas bearing the globe, lie great arched train halls of iron and glass. It remains one of the busiest stations in Germany.
Key facts
- Location: Am Hauptbahnhof, Frankfurt am Main
- Architect: Hermann Eggert (engineer J. W. Schwedler)
- Opened: 1888
- Style: Neo-Renaissance front, iron-and-glass train halls
- Function: central terminus station
History
Frankfurt replaced three separate line-stations with a single terminus on the western edge of the old city. Eggert gave it a palatial stone front; Schwedler, a master of iron roofs, spanned the platforms with wide arched halls.
It opened in 1888 with three great halls, later widened to five as traffic grew. Damaged in the Second World War and repaired, it stays at the heart of Germany’s rail network, a gateway between the city and the world.
What you see
The front is a long sandstone palace topped, at the centre, by Atlas straining under a globe flanked by figures of steam and electricity. Step inside and the mood changes to engineering: rank on rank of arched iron-and-glass roofs reaching out over the platforms. Stone grandeur outside, iron ambition within.
Practical information
- Open: daily, as a working station
- Cost: free to enter the halls
- Best for: the Atlas sculpture and the iron train halls
- Time needed: 15–25 minutes
Getting there
The Hauptbahnhof is just west of Frankfurt’s centre, a hub for high-speed, regional, S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains, fifteen minutes by rail from the airport.
Nearby
- Städel Museum — the great art museum on the river, nearby
- Bahnhofsviertel — the lively quarter between the station and the centre
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica / Wikipedia — Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof
- Deutsche Bahn — station heritage information
- Wikimedia Commons — image source and licence
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