Willy-Brandt-Platz
Willy-Brandt-Platz (city square) is located within the so-called banking district at the Frankfurt “Wallanlagen”. The “Wallanlagen” form a ring-shaped green area around the city centre of Frankfurt am Main. They were built at the beginning of the 19th century on the site of the city’s former fortifications. This is encircled by the “Frankfurter Anlagenring”. The “Wallanlagen” are divided into seven sections, most of which bear the name of the former city gates. These are the “Untermainanlage”, the “Gallusanlage”, the “Taunusanlage”, the “Bockenheimer Anlage”, the “Eschenheimer Anlage”, the “Friedberger Anlage” and the “Obermainanlage”.
The Willy-Brandt-Platz and the Städtische Bühnen are located at the “Untermainanlage”.
Municipal theatres
At Willy-Brandt-Platz, the former “Theaterplatz”, you will find the “Städtische Bühnen” on the left, a new building constructed between 1951 and 1963. The “Städtische Bühnen” are home to the municipal theatres in Frankfurt am Main and the largest in the federal state of Hesse. They are divided into the “Opernhaus” with 1,400 seats, the “Schauspielhaus” with 710 seats and the “Kammerspiel” with 200 seats.
The Frankfurt Opera was named Opera House of the Year by the magazine “Opernwelt” in 1995 and 2003.
Frankfurter Märchenbrunnen (Frankfurt Fairytale Fountain)
In the grounds situated in front of the municipal theatre stages is the “Märchenbrunnen” or “Fairytale Fountain”, an art nouveau fountain designed by Ernst Friedrich Hausmann. The fountain was completed in 1910. The bronze figures at the foot of the 8-metre high fountain were melted down during the Second World War before being reconstructed in 2006 using photographs dating back to the 1920s.