This museum, like almost all the others I visited in Frankfurt, has three levels. The ground level only has one notable exhibit: two amazing scale models of the city, one before WWII, and one after the bombings that destroyed much of the town center. The post-bombing model is one of the most dramatic things I have ever seen. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to have lived through that. It must have been terrifying.

After admiring the models for a while, I finally went upstairs to the first floor. There was a small booklet for sale (drop a coin in the box and take it, honor system), with the various panels translated into English. This permanent exhibit was called "Frankfurt in the Late Middle Ages: Churches, Donors, Piety". Of course everything tied in with religion somehow, but that is not too much of a distortion of medieval reality. The exhibit has several focuses: the clergy, worship, altarpieces, donations, piety, private devotion and portraits. A section of this level is devoted to each of these. Naturally there were many items on display that I found interesting, but one of my favorites was part of an ornate choir seat. The crouching lion carved into the armrest looked almost like a Chinese dragon to me. I also found it amazing that I could still see the bright colors painted on several of the wooden epitaphs, though most had faded. The various altarpieces were also quite interesting, almost hidden in far-away places. A large early 16th century wooden piece called "Christ on the Cross" was also quite impressive, at about 15 feet tall.

The floor above this one had panels only in German, and there were no booklets available in English. It was still interesting enough, clearly focusing on life since the Middle Ages. There were countless artifacts from various aspects of life, such as mercantilism (early modern coins, porcelain, spices, sugars and other imports, weights and measures). Other displays had to do with the military and soldiers’ lives, women’s clothing and jewelry, and scientific pursuits (there was a nice model of the solar system, charmingly showing Saturn with 7 moons rather than rings).

This floor was very big, and I was tired and couldn’t understand any of the information they were giving me about the artifacts, but I still enjoyed looking. I just didn’t linger too long. Instead I went back downstairs and looked some more at the city models. These were definitely the highlight of the museum’s offerings, but the rest wasn’t bad either.