Liebfrauen, Frankfurt

Liebfrauenkirche is a Gothic-style Catholic parish church, located in the centre of Frankfurt, Germany. It was built in several phases from the 14th to the 16th century and serves today as a monastery church. Close to the shopping district, it serves as a place of rest even to visitors who are not religious. With an organ completed in 2008, it is a major venue for church music events.HistoryThe first sacred building on the site began as a family chapel, which was made in 1325 a collegiate church by the archbishop of Mainz, dedicated to Mary ("Unsere liebe Frau"). It was the third collegiate in the town, after that of St. Bartholomew attached to the Frankfurt Cathedral, and, founded in 1317.In 1344 the chapel was expanded to a Gothic hall church of three naves. A document about its consecration mentions two altars. From 1415, the south facade was transformed, including a tympanum showing the Adoration of the Magi made by the workshop of Madern Gerthener. In 1453 the town council permitted to change an adjacent tower of the fortication to a bell tower. From 1506 to 1509 the church was once more expanded, by Jörg Östereicher. The church remained Catholic, part of the Diocese of Mainz, even when the Protestant reformation was introduced in Frankfurt in 1533.