For a tour, we recommend the parking lot on the Main forecourt.
Leave the halls of the International Leather Goods Fair (opens in a new tab) behind you. Stroll upstream on the embankment along the Main. On the far bank, you will be accompanied by the green of an open meadow landscape. A park soon becomes visible on the right with a building reminiscent of a temple.
The people of Offenbach call it the Lilite Temple because it stands in the Lilipark, which is a remnant of the gardens that were the setting for Goethe's Summer of Love with Lili Schönemann in 1775. However, it was not until 23 years later that the Frankfurt banker Metzler had the temple added to his Offenbach estate as a bathhouse. At that time, the River Main rippled right up to it. Since 2007, it has been restored to its former glory. Together with the studio rooms in the new extension, it is used as a special venue for art exhibitions.
As we walk on, we can already see the cool, austere northern façade of Isenburg Castle, which was completed in 1572. Here we leave the embankment to discover a surprising piece of architecture. The south façade, which is quite different from the north side, with its arcades, figures and coats of arms, is considered one of the most charming Renaissance buildings north of the Alps.
The castle is used by the College of Design, whose main buildings surround the castle courtyard. It is adorned by a fountain inaugurated in 1917 with a group of bronze figures. It shows Mercury, the god of trade and commerce, holding little Pluto, the god of prosperity, by the hand.
From the castle, we turn back to Lilipark. We turn into Herrnstraße and have reached Offenbacher Kulturkarree. On the left, we pass the House of City History with the City Museum (opens in a new tab), City Archive and the Central Cultural Administration. On the right, we recognize the graceful "Lilihäuschen", which only served as a coach house during the Goethe-Lili era, but has nevertheless survived as an original document of the era.
Less than a stone's throw now separates us from another centerpiece of the Kulturkarrees, the neo-baroque Büsing-Palais. Its iron portal, a remarkable piece of wrought ironwork, opens onto a stately courtyard of honor. The side wings house the city library and the Klingspor Museum of Modern Book and Writing Art
The people of Offenbach like to use the central building of the palace for festive occasions. And when the people of Offenbach don't need it, the Sheraton Hotel, which is connected to the Palais, fills it with ball and conference guests. For more than 200 years, people have worked and celebrated, given concerts and danced in this building with its extensive park on the west side.
1718 is the year of the inauguration of the French Reformed Church, which now comes into view from the left. A few steps ahead, to the right, the baroque vicarage with its mansard roof is worth pausing for a moment. The church and vicarage are reminders of the immigration of French Huguenots, which was important for Offenbach's development.
On the other side of Berliner Straße, which we have now reached, we see the town hall built around 1970. The office towers in the vicinity are more recent buildings. They help to make Berliner Strasse appear as the backbone of the city.
As we cross Berliner Straße, we are greeted by the Protestant town church, inaugurated in 1748, with a coat of arms above its portal. It continues on to the pedestrian zone of Frankfurter Straße with its department stores and specialist stores.
We follow Frankfurter Straße to the right and turn right again at the Kaiserstraße junction. At the junction with Goethestraße, Kaiserstraße leads us to a striking domed building, the "Capitol (opens in a new tab)" concert and event venue. This stately building was built at the beginning of the 20th century as a synagogue for a wealthy Jewish community. The congregation, which was resurrected after persecution, now uses a new synagogue building on Kaiserstrasse, close to the former one.
The Offenbach trade fair halls are directly adjacent to the Capitol. We have reached the Main again and the parking lot that was our starting point.
Below you will find a section of the city map where you can follow the route. The parking lot on the banks of the Main is marked at the top left.
We also offer suggestions for further explorations.