Open Bolongaro – Wie entsteht ein Kulturpalast?

In Frankfurt’s west, the largest late Baroque civic palace north of the Alps is being restored. The main tenant will be us — the Historical Museum Frankfurt (HMF) — with the planned Bolongaro Museum Höchst.

There, we will present a cultural-historical permanent exhibition developed in collaboration with local partners, as well as a major permanent exhibition on Höchst porcelain that explores many design-related questions.

Since 2021, we have been building a social network and asking: “What kind of space do the residents of today — and tomorrow — need and want at this site?” Delays in the building’s completion are being used for a special exhibition about the project. We also plan to invite guests who already bring life to other cultural palaces. Together, we aim to develop ideas for transforming the Bolongaro into an exciting, open cultural center for the future. The special exhibition will be shown at the HMF in Frankfurt’s Old Town, with an extensive accompanying program taking place in the city’s west.

We are the team of the future museum in the Bolongaro Palace in Frankfurt-Höchst. Alongside the museum, the site will also host the registry office, the Frankfurt Music School, the Film Forum Höchst, Kita Frankfurt, and the Höchst Youth and Cultural Center. The museum’s city history exhibition was developed in collaboration with the Höchst Historical Society and the Bolongaro Cultural and Museum Association.

For the recent history of Frankfurt’s west, 13 participatory exhibition projects were created together with local associations and engaged citizens, including the Stadtteilkinderhaus and the Eritrean Cultural Association. As part of a digital project, shared content was developed with the Alevi Cultural Center Frankfurt e.V., the Wat Bodhi-Dhamm Buddhist Association, and the Höchst Swimming Club 1893.

The redesign of our porcelain exhibition is being developed in close collaboration with the Höchst Porcelain Manufactory. Our future museum has therefore been planned from the outset with many partners. Now, within the framework of the WDC 2026, we want to further explore and expand the idea of the “Cultural Palace” — an idea that extends far beyond our permanent exhibitions — together with even more and new partners.