Fodor's Expert Review Römer

Three individual patrician buildings make up the Römer, Frankfurt's town hall. The mercantile-minded Frankfurt burghers used the complex for political and ceremonial purposes as well as for trade fairs and other commercial ventures. Its gabled facade with an ornate balcony is widely known as the city's official emblem. The most important events to take place here were the festivities celebrating the coronations of the Holy Roman emperors. The first was in 1562 in the glittering Kaisersaal (Imperial Hall), the last in 1792 to celebrate the election of the emperor Francis II, who would later be forced by Napoléon to abdicate. Unless official business is being conducted, you can see the impressive, full-length 19th-century portraits of the 52 emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, which line the walls of the reconstructed banquet hall, but you have to arrange a tour through a private local operator.