Jewish Museum Frankfurt

The Jewish Museum is housed in the former upper middle-class residence of the Rothschild family and one of the neighboring buildings at Am Untermainkai 14-15. The city architect Johann F. Chr. Hess erected the two buildings in 1820/21 in the classicist style. After Mayer Carl von Rothschild acquired the house in 1846, he had it enlarged by the architect Friedrich Rumpf and furnished with a representative, stately interior. Rumpf coined with his decor "Le goût Rothschild", the Rothschild taste, which still defines part of the premises today.

In 1895, the "Freiherrlich Carl von Rothschild'sche öffentliche Bibliothek" (Baron Carl von Rothschild's Public Library) is established in the house number 15 and in 1906 it is extended by the neighboring building. In 1928, the city of Frankfurt takes over the library and uses it until the post-war period. At times, the premises also served as a dependence of the Historical Museum.

In 1980, the city council decides to establish a Jewish Museum in Frankfurt and commissions the architect Ante Josip von Kostelac to carry out the conversion and renovation work. Germany's first Jewish Museum is opened on November 9, 1988, in commemoration of 50 years of the November Pogrom by founding director Georg Heuberger.

The museum is currently undergoing structural expansion and renovation. This is associated with a complete redesign of the permanent exhibition. The reopening is planned for 2019.