As for all of this looking too new - Just take Poland as an example. Cities like Warsaw and many others, hell, even including "Breslau" and "Danzig" are very attractive to tourists because of their "historical Old Towns", while in reality, it's all reconstruction. Not 1:1 either. Many "medieval" Polish cities were actually "born" in 1945, but they are somehow not percieved as new.
well they were reconstructed, but they looked at photos of back in the day and recreated the architecture that was there before. At least it's not such ugly concrete blocks. They did well over there in PL. :-)
I am not against preserving and admiring the past. I am against recreating and clinging to it. Sometimes there is a need to let go. Or to find a way to marry the past with the present.
i personally like it. The old frankfurt was one of the biggest medieval hubs in europe so its really sad we lost all of it. So i think it's a good idea to rebuild some of it :D
Hi, I just returned from a two week holiday in Germany. Since my return flight was from Frankfurt I spent the night in an Air BnB. My host took me on a tour of the recently opened Alt Stadt. I was very impressed by the effort. When possible original material was used and a lot of the reconstruction was done based on the evidence of what was there before. I agree that it had a bit of the Disney quality to it but I think that this is because everything is still new. It is great that this effort is done to attract tourists but what would make this better if this could be integrated into the fabric of the city. I actually like Frankfurt a lot. I regret that I usually do not have more time to spend there. I think the Hauptbahhof is one of the most exciting train stations in the world. I think this was an imaginative project and I really hope that this section does not become just a tourist enclave.
"You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe, when it knocked down our buildings, it didn't replace them with anything more offensive than rubble." (Prince Charles) The desire to recreate the old says a lot about the quality of modern architecture.
They are trying to recreate a part of the city that was lost, for its own virtue. It's not meant to be a verdict about modern architecture. And Prince Charles is not an authority on architecture and his personal taste is, with all respect, a bit narrow-minded. Apparently he likes no tall buildings at all and nothing made out of concrete or without old-fashioned squiggles. That doesn't make any sense, there were lots of interesting architectural styles in the 20th and 21st centuries, and many breathtaking buildings.
This is just the same they did in the Berlin Nikolaiviertel on behalf of the 1987 anniversary. In a place smack in the city centre which had been totally flattened (by bombs as well as wilful demolition) except for a church, they recreated an artificial "ancient" quarter with narrow winding streets, old-looking buildings, but built using modern industrial methods (GDR style) and of course concrete. And within it some shops selling luxury goods (again, GDR style). Tourists love it till this day.
You forgot to mention that most of the new buildings actually are repliquas of the original buildings that where standing there up until the war. they used eye whitnesses, old pictures and old city plans to make those buildings look as close to how they looked back then as possible.
Yes, they should recreate the old city in it's former way. It retores it's old character. A time gone by. Besides, it attracts tourists. I wouldn't suggest that they return to the old style. But keeping it in its original location is cool. The old city centers generally aren't as big as the newer, modern cities. They make great living histories. We should keep our histories alive. Sure. Germany has a checkered past in the last century, but that wasn't it's entire history.
I work in an old city and yes, it attracts tourists. Boy, does it attract tourists. Drunk, loud and broke ones, mostly. Maybe something that doesn't attract tourists but is a good place to hang out for the locals would have been ok too.
Touché. Although the big advantage is that they tend to get drunk in groups of two or three, not twelve. Although to be fair, Amsterdam tourism is quite ... unique in its emphasis.
@@bomcabedal that is what they created this for. Really disappointed at rewboss for not doing proper research on this. It will become a tourist attraction anyway because it is located in the middle of important (not necessarily famous) historical sights.
I don't think this was created exclusively for tourists though, but also to bring back some atmosphere into what used to be a pretty dystopian part of town. And while you can argue about style, I think they succeeded in doing that.
Thanks for another great travelog video! I was very impressed with the skyline from the church tower. I thought it all looked really nice and hope it does well for thee city! You make great travel videos, please keep them coming.
What's most important: What will be inside the buildings? Will they provide room to live for the ordinary people? Or will they just serve as corporate offices? Or will they be hotels or tourist apartments?
In those houses are flats for regular people, shops and some museums. The city took much care that the the area is a regular area of the city and not a tourist attraction in the first place. There were actually so many requests for the appartments that they had to decide by drawing lots. It is a wonderfull area, but I agree that its still looking a bit too new, it needs another 10-20 years to get the right patina.
But to be honest, "patina" has never been the strong suit of the German restoration ethic. I remember returning to Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg around 2000 and finding to my amazement that whole streets looked as though they'd been built yesterday. Shame; when I lived there in the mid-1990s it was all a nice, consistent greyish brown.
The Area opposing the Römer was also rebuilt in the 80s but with faithful Fachwerk and they now look like they've genuinely survived the second World war
I used to play on the remains of the Roman baths when I was a kid and I thought that was way more fun and fascinating than the way they are now 😅 I quite like the Altstadt although I think it doesn’t really fit into Frankfurt and I agree that they could’ve spent that amount of money a bit more wisely
I don't think it will take 20 years to tone down to something very attractive but your video does make it look that it needs to lose it's shiny new feel.
Ha, I was there for the first time in 2019 - and until now didn't realise it was a reconstruction. So much of German old towns are so painfully clean, that it is hard to distinguish!
It's like that in much of Germany though. I mean, most of German cities were destroyed, from minimally to almost near oblivion like the case of Dresden, so many of the old towns you see are in fact, not that "old". Most of them were reconstructed after the war. It's actually impressive how they rebuilt everything to that extend.
It's always fun to read the Wikipedia page of any even moderately-sized German city because eventually you'll find a line that reads "much of the city, including (insert historic building here, usually the Rathaus), was destroyed by Allied air raids during the war" or some variation thereof.
Well yeah, that's what happened in WW2. If you go further back you will read about most any city north of Frankfurt: no building older than 1648 - due to the 30 year war. War sucks.
My hometown (Wuppertal) was firebombed to hell in ww2 and I wish the City would have enough money to recreate a Part of the old city Center or other famous buildings (we had the 2nd Plabetarium in the world). Or at least they should destoy the brutalist buildings in the City Center.
Hey Andrew, nice video. But I have something other I would like to ask you: Since the vote in Bavaria is a round the corner, could you do a video on voting and what you as an immigrant are allowed to or not allowed to do?
the intention behind this project was to give frankfurt back what it lost in ww2. the idea of a structural engineer student nearly 20 years ago and no star architect. but some guys dont get it right with thr reconstruction. and some guys are not happy about the fact that the man behind this is from offenbach
I like the houses they recreated in the old style. The modern ones are just not fitting and are probably as ugly as the office buildings they tore down on that spot.
I think it looks amazing, and definitely not ugly. I would 100% visit Frankfurt if more of it was built in the old German style. I don't agree with your opinion in this video.
"a little bit more 21st century, but just not ugly" I wonder if that's possible. Artists and engineers these days live in separate worlds, and they despise each other instead of cooperating.
They definitely could have done worse. Time will give the needed patina for free. But still, Frankfurt - as any large citie - is not a place I personally would choose to visit.
These new modern structures look so ugly and don't really fit in there. Let them be built around the modern financial district and leave the city to a bit more traditional architecture and try to recreate what was there
It's interesting to see you trying this new almost vlog-esque format. I think it's good to see you branch out and try new things. However, I think you ought to have cut out the whole minute and a half commute sequence at the beginning. It didn't really add much to the experience of the video, other than extend watch time and delay the real meat of the video. Many would prefer to skip it, and some will even abandon the video entirely in that time. it's risky to put that much fluff at the start of a video like this. Nonetheless, I like the change of style, and hope you find this criticism constructive.
Really? Yes it is a controversial. And yes, taste is subjective. But you normally do a better research. Although it automatically will become a tourist attraction, just by beeing there, that was not the intent when they planned and built it. All apartments are residential and all shops are going to be local owners (city is keeping those to regulate it). Disneyland term: would you use this Term for Münster and Dresden as well? Authentic craftsmanship was used in this quarter and not just beautiful fassad. And of course it is not a reconstruction of the old town. It was planned as a merger between modern and historical copies. Old materials and even original materials have been used and infused even into the modern houses.
I live in Frankfurt and quite like the new "Altstadt". It is by far a much nicer place than the awful Technisches Rathaus!
As for all of this looking too new - Just take Poland as an example. Cities like Warsaw and many others, hell, even including "Breslau" and "Danzig" are very attractive to tourists because of their "historical Old Towns", while in reality, it's all reconstruction. Not 1:1 either. Many "medieval" Polish cities were actually "born" in 1945, but they are somehow not percieved as new.
well they were reconstructed, but they looked at photos of back in the day and recreated the architecture that was there before. At least it's not such ugly concrete blocks. They did well over there in PL. :-)
A bit more 21st century - just not ugly? Are there any examples?
Still better than unproductive glass towers. ;)
Well, this is not an either or question, is it? I am not a fan of rebuilding the past.
Because if we keep rebuilding the past, there is no room for the future.
I am not against preserving and admiring the past. I am against recreating and clinging to it. Sometimes there is a need to let go. Or to find a way to marry the past with the present.
@@swanpride nobody likes these glass towers they ruin the look and are ugly. Also most people prefer living houses then in ugly towers.
i personally like it. The old frankfurt was one of the biggest medieval hubs in europe so its really sad we lost all of it. So i think it's a good idea to rebuild some of it :D
Hi, I just returned from a two week holiday in Germany. Since my return flight was from Frankfurt I spent the night in an Air BnB. My host took me on a tour of the recently opened Alt Stadt. I was very impressed by the effort. When possible original material was used and a lot of the reconstruction was done based on the evidence of what was there before. I agree that it had a bit of the Disney quality to it but I think that this is because everything is still new. It is great that this effort is done to attract tourists but what would make this better if this could be integrated into the fabric of the city. I actually like Frankfurt a lot. I regret that I usually do not have more time to spend there. I think the Hauptbahhof is one of the most exciting train stations in the world. I think this was an imaginative project and I really hope that this section does not become just a tourist enclave.
I thought the bust featured in the video icon on my suggestion box was Karl Marx.
There is a Karl Marx University in Frankfurt and a bookshop.
Frankfurter here. No there isn´t.
Its Friedrich Stolze, a 19th century poet from Frankfurt.
@@petrameyer1121 A bookshop indeed. A university not. Some students (was it in 1968?) tried to rename the Goethe University, that was all.
Rewboss, what are your thoughts on the Humboldtforum reconstructing the old city palace in Berlin?
"You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe, when it knocked down our buildings, it didn't replace them with anything more offensive than rubble." (Prince Charles) The desire to recreate the old says a lot about the quality of modern architecture.
They are trying to recreate a part of the city that was lost, for its own virtue. It's not meant to be a verdict about modern architecture. And Prince Charles is not an authority on architecture and his personal taste is, with all respect, a bit narrow-minded. Apparently he likes no tall buildings at all and nothing made out of concrete or without old-fashioned squiggles. That doesn't make any sense, there were lots of interesting architectural styles in the 20th and 21st centuries, and many breathtaking buildings.
This is just the same they did in the Berlin Nikolaiviertel on behalf of the 1987 anniversary. In a place smack in the city centre which had been totally flattened (by bombs as well as wilful demolition) except for a church, they recreated an artificial "ancient" quarter with narrow winding streets, old-looking buildings, but built using modern industrial methods (GDR style) and of course concrete. And within it some shops selling luxury goods (again, GDR style). Tourists love it till this day.
You forgot to mention that most of the new buildings actually are repliquas of the original buildings that where standing there up until the war.
they used eye whitnesses, old pictures and old city plans to make those buildings look as close to how they looked back then as possible.
Only 15 of the 35 are copies.
Yes, they should recreate the old city in it's former way. It retores it's old character. A time gone by. Besides, it attracts tourists. I wouldn't suggest that they return to the old style. But keeping it in its original location is cool. The old city centers generally aren't as big as the newer, modern cities. They make great living histories. We should keep our histories alive. Sure. Germany has a checkered past in the last century, but that wasn't it's entire history.
I work in an old city and yes, it attracts tourists. Boy, does it attract tourists. Drunk, loud and broke ones, mostly. Maybe something that doesn't attract tourists but is a good place to hang out for the locals would have been ok too.
You mean something to attract drunk, loud and broke locals instead?
Touché. Although the big advantage is that they tend to get drunk in groups of two or three, not twelve. Although to be fair, Amsterdam tourism is quite ... unique in its emphasis.
@@bomcabedal that is what they created this for. Really disappointed at rewboss for not doing proper research on this. It will become a tourist attraction anyway because it is located in the middle of important (not necessarily famous) historical sights.
I don't think this was created exclusively for tourists though, but also to bring back some atmosphere into what used to be a pretty dystopian part of town. And while you can argue about style, I think they succeeded in doing that.
Its beautiful, give it some years to develop, and it will boom like it once did. They didn't even add the flowers trees or cafe's or benches yet. 💥💥💥
Thanks for another great travelog video! I was very impressed with the skyline from the church tower. I thought it all looked really nice and hope it does well for thee city! You make great travel videos, please keep them coming.
What's most important: What will be inside the buildings? Will they provide room to live for the ordinary people? Or will they just serve as corporate offices? Or will they be hotels or tourist apartments?
In those houses are flats for regular people, shops and some museums. The city took much care that the the area is a regular area of the city and not a tourist attraction in the first place. There were actually so many requests for the appartments that they had to decide by drawing lots.
It is a wonderfull area, but I agree that its still looking a bit too new, it needs another 10-20 years to get the right patina.
But to be honest, "patina" has never been the strong suit of the German restoration ethic. I remember returning to Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg around 2000 and finding to my amazement that whole streets looked as though they'd been built yesterday. Shame; when I lived there in the mid-1990s it was all a nice, consistent greyish brown.
Brilliant! You should definitely do more Road Trips. Always very enjoyable AND educating.
5:26 Ezio Auditore da Firenze Rewboss
I think it is a good thing! Once it's populated with shops and people living in it the atmosphere will improve. Great video!!
The new old town is wonderful!!!!
Great video, Andrew. Well done !!
The Area opposing the Römer was also rebuilt in the 80s but with faithful Fachwerk and they now look like they've genuinely survived the second World war
I used to play on the remains of the Roman baths when I was a kid and I thought that was way more fun and fascinating than the way they are now 😅 I quite like the Altstadt although I think it doesn’t really fit into Frankfurt and I agree that they could’ve spent that amount of money a bit more wisely
Auf der einen Seite gab es so ne Art geheimgang zwischen den Steinen und Büschen entlang
Ich finds schön
I don't think it will take 20 years to tone down to something very attractive but your video does make it look that it needs to lose it's shiny new feel.
It is. Since the video mid September, more shopowners have moved in. It did feel like a movie set at the beginning.
Good to know thank you
Ich liebe es. Ist die Kirche alten oder neu?
Alt. Original 1514, tower burned and was rebuilt 1868.
Ha, I was there for the first time in 2019 - and until now didn't realise it was a reconstruction. So much of German old towns are so painfully clean, that it is hard to distinguish!
It's like that in much of Germany though. I mean, most of German cities were destroyed, from minimally to almost near oblivion like the case of Dresden, so many of the old towns you see are in fact, not that "old". Most of them were reconstructed after the war. It's actually impressive how they rebuilt everything to that extend.
When and why did we stop just building beautiful buildings as a matter of course?
It's always fun to read the Wikipedia page of any even moderately-sized German city because eventually you'll find a line that reads "much of the city, including (insert historic building here, usually the Rathaus), was destroyed by Allied air raids during the war" or some variation thereof.
Well yeah, that's what happened in WW2. If you go further back you will read about most any city north of Frankfurt: no building older than 1648 - due to the 30 year war. War sucks.
My hometown (Wuppertal) was firebombed to hell in ww2 and I wish the City would have enough money to recreate a Part of the old city Center or other famous buildings (we had the 2nd Plabetarium in the world). Or at least they should destoy the brutalist buildings in the City Center.
Is this not like the reconstruction of the Altstadt of Dresden ?
The UK should do this
Tolles Video! :)
Hey Andrew, nice video. But I have something other I would like to ask you: Since the vote in Bavaria is a round the corner, could you do a video on voting and what you as an immigrant are allowed to or not allowed to do?
He has a German passport afaik. Anyways, state elections don't change federal stuff like immigration laws.
0:01 An der Außenbeleuchtung müssen Sie noch arbeiten. So geht das aber nicht, Herr Bossom.
4:20 ^^ das sieht irgendwie falsch aus...
Weil das Haus drum herum gebaut wurde?
@@AP-RSI es ändert für mich aber trotzdem nichts daran, dass es nicht zusammenpasst... 🤷
@@videomailYT Ok... aber es war ja Sinn und Zweck, dass es nicht passt und man es sieht! ;-)
@@AP-RSI ^^ auf alle Fälle sticht es heraus... XD
The main street in that place should be called Memory Lane, if that idiom exists in German!
the intention behind this project was to give frankfurt back what it lost in ww2. the idea of a structural engineer student nearly 20 years ago and no star architect. but some guys dont get it right with thr reconstruction. and some guys are not happy about the fact that the man behind this is from offenbach
I like the houses they recreated in the old style. The modern ones are just not fitting and are probably as ugly as the office buildings they tore down on that spot.
Hey, I sent you a postcard. Why don't you make a quick video on all the postcards you get? You know, where they're from and so.
I do from time to time. When I have collected enough, I make a video and show them all.
" vielleicht hätten sie etwas kreativer sein können, zum Beispiel: 21zigstes Jahrhundert, aber nicht scheußlich."
The best comment ever 🤙🤙🤙
The house that Andrew built couldn't possibly look any more German. Did you never feel like installing a red entrance door or brass knobs?
Star singers at your door? The CoE may want to have a word with you.
I think it looks amazing, and definitely not ugly. I would 100% visit Frankfurt if more of it was built in the old German style. I don't agree with your opinion in this video.
Hanau Radau 4 Life!
Der Aufstieg zum Domturm ist wirklich nichts für schwache Nerven...
ich wünschte meine stadt wäre so schön :[
Debatable, maybe, but I'm sure King Charles III loves it.
"a little bit more 21st century, but just not ugly"
I wonder if that's possible. Artists and engineers these days live in separate worlds, and they despise each other instead of cooperating.
They definitely could have done worse. Time will give the needed patina for free. But still, Frankfurt - as any large citie - is not a place I personally would choose to visit.
These new modern structures look so ugly and don't really fit in there. Let them be built around the modern financial district and leave the city to a bit more traditional architecture and try to recreate what was there
Es gibt das was du dir vorstellst. Nennt sich "kritische Rekonstruktion"
Bankfurt will nicht mehr Krankfurt sein
Sei dankfurt dafür.
It's interesting to see you trying this new almost vlog-esque format. I think it's good to see you branch out and try new things.
However, I think you ought to have cut out the whole minute and a half commute sequence at the beginning. It didn't really add much to the experience of the video, other than extend watch time and delay the real meat of the video. Many would prefer to skip it, and some will even abandon the video entirely in that time. it's risky to put that much fluff at the start of a video like this.
Nonetheless, I like the change of style, and hope you find this criticism constructive.
Really? Yes it is a controversial. And yes, taste is subjective. But you normally do a better research. Although it automatically will become a tourist attraction, just by beeing there, that was not the intent when they planned and built it. All apartments are residential and all shops are going to be local owners (city is keeping those to regulate it). Disneyland term: would you use this Term for Münster and Dresden as well? Authentic craftsmanship was used in this quarter and not just beautiful fassad. And of course it is not a reconstruction of the old town. It was planned as a merger between modern and historical copies. Old materials and even original materials have been used and infused even into the modern houses.