Bolongaropalast

Bolongaropalast stands in Frankfurt-Höchst as a baroque palace beside Bolongarostraße, with gardens descending towards the Main. Its horseshoe-shaped form encloses opulent rooms, while a 117-metre northern façade gives the building an imposing scale. Two garden terraces extend behind it, and pavilions flank the lower terrace near the river.

Josef Maria Markus and Jakob Philipp Bolongaro, tobacco merchants from Stresa, built the palace between 1772 and 1774. Their Catholic faith prevented citizenship in Lutheran Frankfurt, so they settled in Höchst Neustadt after accepting the Elector of Mainz’s offer. Mirror walls, ceiling paintings, silk wallpaper, a chapel and a richly decorated ballroom reveal the interiors’ original splendour. A first-floor porcelain exhibition presents Alt-Höchst reproductions created for the city in 1927.

Napoleon Bonaparte spent his last night on German soil here in 1813 during the coalition wars. Later, Friedrich August Sonntag turned the building into a factory before Höchst restored it as a town hall until 1928. In the park, Josef Keller’s 1909 Triton Fountain shows a dolphin and a water-spouting Triton in neo-baroque form. Concerts and literary events use the chapel hall, while summer theatre performances take place in the garden.