Frankfurt’s museum scene is one of the largest and most varied in Germany. When Frankfurt was still a free imperial city and therefore possessed no royal collections, it was the responsibility of committed citizens and the city council alone to start a collection, make endowments and found a museum. Today, Frankfurt has around 60 larger and smaller museums and exhibition halls of different sizes, from general art museums to small specialist collections.

Twenty-six museums conveniently located in close proximity to each other and within walking-distance of the city centre form the heart of Frankfurt’s museum scene. The Museumsufer Frankfurt [Frankfurt Museum Riverbank] located between Eiserner Steg and Friedensbrücke comprises 13 museums by the river alone and just as many and more in the vicinity. Since the end of 2007, these institutions have presented themselves under the joint "Museumsufer Frankfurt".

Around 2,5m visitors annually enjoy the great variety of art on offer. There are sculptures from Greek and Roman antiquity and ancient Egypt at the Liebieghaus, the subjects of film, archaeology, architecture, communication and world cultures at the eponymous museums, old and new masters at the Städel and contemporary art at the MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST [Museum of Modern Art], which is remarkable also for its outstanding architecture. All of these museums combine to create an atmosphere of cross-fertilisation and make the Museum Riverbank a place of discovery, experience and learning. This also applies to the Museum Angewandte Kunst, [Museum of Applied Arts], the Historisches Museum [Museum of History] and the Jüdisches Museum [Jewish Museum], the Goethe Museum, the SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT and the Senkenberg Naturmuseum [Museum of Natural History].

Unique in its architecture and the broad range of subjects covered, the Museum Riverbank’s complex of cultural institutions on both banks of the river Main makes Frankfurt a City of Culture in the truest sense.