Dominican Monastery (Frankfurt am Main)

Completely destroyed during World War II, it was rebuilt in 1955–1957 by the architect Gustav Scheinpflug based on the old floor plan and layout, but in the architectural style of the post-war period.

Construction of the actual monastery began in 1238, but the pace of building was slow due to the Order's reliance on alms from abroad.

The elections of the German kings Adolf of Nassau (1292), Henry VII (1308) and Günther von Schwarzburg (1349) took place at the monastery.

In response, the provincial chapter of the Order brought a lawsuit against the city before the Imperial Chamber Court, and the council eventually put its plans aside so as to not come into open conflict with the Emperor.

During this time, the church underwent only minor changes, the most notable being the building of a Baroque extension on the western facade in circa 1680.

[5] In 1790 the archbishop of Mainz dissolved the Dominican monastery and converted it into a new association, the Congregatio ad Sanctum Fridericum.

Plans to demolish the church were drafted in 1875, but were stopped due to the intervention of the Prussian Generalkonservator Ferdinand von Quast.

Another demolition attempt in 1884 was also prevented, but renovation work was undertaken in 1885–1889 and a wall dividing the nave of the church was built.

The former Dominican abbey was rebuilt and on the second Sunday of Advent, 1961, the completed building was inaugurated as the new Lutheran Holy Spirit Church.

The monastery is now the seat of the Protestant Regional Association of Frankfurt, which provides administrative and other support to the congregations and deaneries of the city.

The vaults were supported by seven pairs of simple circular pillars featuring base plates and unadorned, cup-shaped capitals.

The chancel arch, a large portion of the pillars and several vaults of the nave initially survived, but these collapsed in 1954 before the start of rebuilding.

[11] Of the original church today only the outer walls of the nave choir, consisting of a bay with ribbed vaults, a five-eighths polygonal apse and the tracery of three of the five stained glass windows have been preserved.