The Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences, occupies an elegant former Freemasons' lodge above the Bergstrasse. The building was extensively renovated in 2012 and is a sober but distinguished piece of late-19th-century neoclassicism.
The academy is mostly a working institution but the foyer, library hall, and the small permanent exhibition on the history of science in Germany are open during working hours. Public lectures during the academic year are open to all. It is worth knowing, in a city that is good at understating its own importance, that one of Germany's most senior scientific bodies sits here.