Lampionfeste

Lampionfest am Bornheimer Hang

The neighbourhood festival marking the “100 Years of New Frankfurt” anniversary series will continue at Bornheimer Hang. Following the successful start last year at Paulsplatz on 2 July 2025 and in the Hellerhof district on 13 and 14 September 2025, the third lantern festival will take place on Saturday, 5 September 2026, at Bornheimer Hang – in the largest settlement of the pioneering urban development programme.

The festival is being developed in collaboration with stakeholders from the housing estate. Building on the lantern festivals from the New Frankfurt era, it will be illuminated by numerous lanterns. The programme features a varied stage programme, stalls from the neighbourhood and guided tours of the district.

By 2030, the festival series is set to take place annually at up to two different locations within New Frankfurt. The project by the City of Frankfurt am Main is coordinated by the German Architecture Museum (DAM) and the creative agency Urban Media Project in cooperation with local stakeholders.

Neighbourhood, theatre and guided tours
As part of an ongoing initiative, local associations, businesses, community groups and residents are invited to help shape the Lampionfest, both in terms of its concept and programme. Visitors will thus have the opportunity to get to know the urban features as well as the history and present-day life of the Bornheimer Hang estate, with its nearly 4,000 residents, better – through guided tours, festival stalls, workshops and a varied stage programme. Another highlight of this year’s event is the artistic staging of the neighbourhood: dramaturge Julia Pohlmann has developed a play specifically for the festival series, based on a text by Frankfurt author Florian Wacker. Wacker has already dedicated a novel to ‘New Frankfurt’ with ‘Zebras im Schnee’.

As a neighbourhood festival, the Lampionfest on the Bornheimer Hang combines the pioneering legacy of the New Frankfurt with contemporary issues in neighbourhood development. The Lampionfest relies on the participation of local networks in the neighbourhood, together with departments, offices and administrative units of the City of Frankfurt am Main.