Germany · Hesse, Frankfurter Paulskirche

The Paulskirche was built between 1789 and 1833 as Frankfurt’s main Protestant church. Its oval interior provided space for large gatherings. For this reason, the building was selected as the meeting place of an all-German parliament during the Revolution of 1848. At that time, Frankfurt was a Free City and also the seat of the Deutscher Bund, a loose association of sovereign German states.

The National Assembly convened on 18 May 1848. It was preceded by protests against censorship and authoritarian rule, as well as demands for fundamental rights, political participation and a German nation-state. The deputies were determined according to different electoral procedures in the individual states. The election did not meet today’s democratic standards: women were excluded, and further restrictions existed regionally.

In March 1849, the assembly adopted the so-called Frankfurt Constitution (Paulskirchenverfassung). It contained a catalogue of fundamental rights and provided for a federal German constitutional state with a hereditary emperor as head of state. However, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV rejected the imperial crown offered to him. Several governments did not recognize the constitution; the National Assembly lost its political support and was eventually dissolved. Germany’s political unification did not take place until 1871, under different political circumstances.

The Paulskirche burned out during air raids on Frankfurt in 1944. It was rebuilt in a simplified form and reopened in 1948, on the centenary of the National Assembly. Since then, it has primarily served as a memorial and event venue. Political commemorative ceremonies and the award ceremony for the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels), among other events, take place there.

The choice for the coin was also connected with the concept of the German federal states series at the time: each year, the state that held the rotating presidency of the Bundesrat was featured. Hessen chose the Paulskirche, a building with both a clear connection to the state and a connection to the history of the German constitution and democracy.