Name: Frankfurt forever!
Start: 2025-02-12
End: 2025-06-01
Location: Städel Museum

His photographs are a journey through time. Carl Friedrich Mylius (1827–1916) shaped the image of Frankfurt like no other photographer. From the Zeil, the Eschenheimer Turm, the Goethe Monument and the Römer to the banks of the Main, he captured the city’s most famous sights. In doing so, he became a pioneer of architectural photography more than 150 years ago. The Städel Museum is devoting the first major solo exhibition to Carl Friedrich Mylius, featuring some eighty works.

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About the Exhibition

The occasion of the exhibition is the donation of 180 photographs from a private collection, which perfectly complement the Städel’s historical holdings of Carl Friedrich Mylius’s photographs and make them accessible to a broad public. In the 19th century, Frankfurt was an important destination for travellers as a historic site of imperial coronations, as a trade fair city and because of its geographical location near the Middle Rhine. With the rise of tourism, Carl Friedrich Mylius’s photographs of sights that are still famous today became popular souvenirs.

The photographs of Carl Friedrich Mylius, a native of Frankfurt, are a valuable visual legacy—artistically outstanding works and at the same time important documents of the city’s history.

Philipp Demandt, Director, Städel Museum

Carl Friedrich Mylius (1827–1916)
Frankfurt am Main: Römerberg square, ca. 1855
Carl Friedrich Mylius (1827–1916)
Frankfurt am Main: View of the cathedral from the west, ca. 1865
Carl Friedrich Mylius (1827–1916)
Frankfurt am Main: Palmengarten society house before the fire, 1871–1875

Many of his views show a city in transition. At the time, Frankfurt was undergoing not only a political reorganisation as a result of Prussian annexation, but also rapid economic and social development. Industrialization and urbanization led to drastic structural changes—entire streets in the old town and inner city disappeared. As a chronicler of this period, Mylius documented the historical sites of his city as well as new buildings, industrial plants and the modern infrastructure. He was also drawn to the areas around Frankfurt—the Feldberg in the Taunus mountains, the towns of Kronberg, Königstein and Gelnhausen—and left behind the first surviving photographs of some of these places. One of the highlights of the exhibition is a 7.60 metre long view of the Main. It is the first photographic panorama in Germany.

Curator
Dr Kristina Lemke (Head of Photography, Städel Museum)

With support from
Dr Brigitte Sahler

Even in these early days, photography was more than mere illustration—it was a means of capturing the city in an aesthetic dimension. This made Mylius an early pioneer of architectural photography.

Kristina Lemke, curator of the exhibition and Head of Photography, Städel Museum

Gallery