Report on our guided city tour on the revolution of 1848
On 12.09.2025 our 12th grade bilingual history class went to Frankfurt Hauptwache to visit some of the historical places which have a connection with German history.
Thankfully, we had a really friendly and organised guide along with us that helped us understand the events much closer and was able to answer our questions with ease. We began our excursion at the Hauptwache. As you might all know, Hauptwache is a busy area with shops and cafes but long ago it used to be a guardhouse. For example, the café that is there now used to be a prison which was also fought against by many revolutionaries and students to free political prisons. Many of us didn’t know this, so it was very surprising to see how much of a different role it used to have.
Starting off, we visited the Palais Thurn und Taxis which is also known as Palais Frankfurt and was luckily just in walking distance. Our guide explained how it used to be an important place for the city’s politics and how it was basically the political centre of whole of Germany. We also learned that Frankfurt itself used to be the heart of trade in Germany with many merchants and markets, which everyone found very interesting. Despite that, Berlin still became the capital which showed us that political decisions did not always follow economic importance.
The highlight of our trip was probably visiting the Paulskirche. This church is so talked about because it was the place of the first German National Assembly in 1848/1849. We luckily had the opportunity to sit in the hall where the speeches were held and were able to imagine the atmosphere of the debates back then. Our guide also told us a funny fact that if people found a speech boring, they started singing to express their feelings. This fact got many of us to ask ourselves the question how different the politics of that time was compared to the one of our time. The guide also helped us understand the art in the Paulskirche and what effect it was supposed to have. Next to the Paulskirche, there was also the 2nd ever statue of the first president of Germany after the time of emperors and monarchies, Friedrich Ebert, and we discussed how his role marks a big change in Germany.
Overall, we personally found this excursion very educational and helpful to understand our topics in class better. It felt really great to be at the historical places and talk about them to live in the atmosphere instead of just discussing them in class. At the end, many of us also agreed that being in the Paulskirche and imagining the debates of 1848 was the most memorable part of the day.
Harmain S. (12 ML)
