The round, sandstone-coloured Paulskirche is the most politically loaded building in Germany. From May 1848 to May 1849 it housed the first democratically elected German national parliament — the Frankfurt Assembly — which tried, and failed, to unify the country and establish a constitutional democracy. The attempt collapsed when the King of Prussia refused to accept the crown the parliament offered him, and many of the deputies fled to America after the conservative restoration.
The original church was destroyed in 1944, rebuilt in stripped-back, almost factory-floor style for the 100th anniversary of the parliament in 1948, and is no longer used for religious services. Today it is a national memorial: the ground floor holds an exhibition on the 1848 parliament, and the upper hall is used for political ceremonies — Germany's most prestigious literary prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, is awarded here every October. Free entry.