Numerous discoveries shaped the work of the Frankfurt Monuments Office last year. But a find in the Seilerstraße in the city center caused a sensation among the preservationists: On the ground floor of a residential building, a part of the medieval city wall was discovered. The owner of the house had reported to the monument office with the assumption that it could be remnants of the city fortifications, said head of office Andrea Hampel at the annual review of the authority. "Such news is quite unusual, and we have no evidence of the medieval wall anywhere else on the Anlagenring."
Leather wallpaper in the false floors
A rarity also came to light during renovation work in the Bolongaro Palace in Höchst. In the false floors, the cavities between the ceiling beams, there were old vessels and vases, but also a leather wallpaper, which was painted in different colors. This shows the taste of the Bolongaro family at the time of construction, said Hampel.
Also in Höchst, in the new castle, 300 kilos of kitchenware were found in a discharge shaft, including products from the Höchst porcelain manufactory. On the basis of the glaze mark, the finds could be dated to a period between 1765 and 1798. These are the oldest found remains from the manufactory's production, Hampel explained.
One of the highlights of the year is the discovery of an urn grave from the Bronze Age in Nieder-Eschbach. It contained the remains of a 30 to 40-year-old man who died between 1200 and 1000 BC. In the Schönhofviertel in Bockenheim a Roman camp ditch was found, of which, according to Hampel, there was no evidence before.
Marco Popp presented selected projects of monument protection. These include Villa Henninger, built in 1875 on the former site of the Henninger brewery. The façade was renovated, entrance and staircase restored. An elevator car from the fifties could be preserved. A tile mosaic by the artist Lina von Schauroth was secured from the now demolished building of the former Ostbahnhof. It shows five colourful, prancing horses and is to be integrated into a new building on the same site.