FRM Magazine Spring 2011
Transcription
FRM Magazine Spring 2011
The magazine on the FrankfurtRhineMain metropolitan region Networks FRM, the digital hub Discoveries The world of the Celts English Theatre Excellence Thomas Reiter, the new director of ESA FRM Series Main-Taunus-Kreis Excursions Garden RhineMain Rainer W. Schlegelmilch Event The Excellence The Formula 1 photographer Plus FRM Pocket Guide Regional Park, festivals, events and more >glish 6,50 Euro | 1 / 2011 En ion Edit Welcome to the Digital Hub www.frankfurt-rhein-main.net Deutsche Bank db.com // Editorial Dear Readers > As far as competition between metropolitan regions is concerned, FrankfurtRhineMain has an excellent chance of becoming one of the major hubs of globalization. And not just with regard to mobility, logistics and finance, but as a meeting place for IT technology, as a knowledge center in the worldwide networks of the digital era. As a result of the highly efficient and competitive IT infrastructure, data flows together in our region; the Internet exchange De-Cix in the east of Frankfurt is the world’s number one. Three of the five biggest German software companies operate in FrankfurtRhineMain. The region boasts the highest concentration of companies in software development, IT consulting, system integration and IT services. All these are achievements which we have worked hard to realize, and of which we can be proud. In order to remain on the cusp of developments, the “Digital Hub FrankfurtRhineMain” start-up initiative recently began its work. The experts responsible for it aim to optimize the networking of the players along the digital value added chain in FrankfurtRhineMain, making it fit for the future. The opening of the House of IT in Darmstadt is another piece of good news. This is a science center that sees itself as Europe’s meeting place for the interdisciplinary design of innovative information and communications technologies. The information and communications sector in the region will receive a wide range of new impulses from this “Silicon Valley”. FrankfurtRhineMain is a hub in both the analog world and the digital. At 8.45 p.m. on July 17, however, the world will turn its eyes to Frankfurt for a dif- ferent reason. This is the exact moment when the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final kicks off at the city’s arena. FrankfurtRhineMain is delighted to be hosting this major sporting event. Over the past few years, Steffi Jones, President of the Organizing Committee and herself a Frankfurt native, has done everything to ensure that the World Cup comes to a crowning and, in sporting terms, successful conThe magazine on the FrankfurtRhineMain metropolitan region Networks FRM, the digital hub Discoveries The world of the Celts English Theatre excelleNce FrM series Main-Taunus-Kreis excursioNs Garden RhineMain Rainer W. Schlegelmilch Thomas Reiter, the new director of ESA eveNt The excelleNce The Formula 1 photographer clusion in Frankfurt. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the German team and wish everyone in the region an unforgettable summer of soccer. Plus FrM Pocket GuiDe Regional Park, festivals, events and more > 6,50 Euro | 1 / 2011 sh Engli n Editio Where many different minds meet. At Deutsche Bank, a diverse culture is not just desirable: it’s essential. Collectively, our breadth of ideas, skills, and perspectives helps us to deliver better solutions for our clients every day. This press release does not constitute an offer or a recommendation to enter into any transaction. Please note that investments are subject to investment risk, including market fluctuations, regulatory change, and counterparty risk. The value of an investment can fall as well as rise and you might not get back the amount originally invested at any point in time. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Deutsche Bank AG is authorized under German Banking Law (competent authority: BaFin – Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) and is regulated by the Financial Services Authority for the conduct of investment business in the United Kingdom. The registered address of Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, is Winchester House, 1 Great Winchester Street, London EC2N 2DB. © 2011 Deutsche Bank AG. I look forward to reading this latest issue of FRM with you. Sincerely, Welcome to the Digital Hub www.frankfurt-rhein-main.net The title reveals a humanlike figure standing in the Center for Advanced Security Research Darmstadt (Cased). Here, research is conducted into IT security – for example into how a person’s health-related data can be protected Petra Roth Mayor of Frankfurt am Main // Content 10 20 Networks > The Digital Hub iscoveries > D The world of the Celts How FRM connects the digital world Where the time 2500 years ago comes to life 36 FRM Series > Main-Taunus-Kreis Excellence > Thomas Reiter What makes the Main-Taunus-Kreis so attractive What “our astronaut” is planning in Darmstadt Martin Hunter Bundesbank Bundesbank President Douglas Gordon Jens Weidmann has taken over the helm at the Bundesbank, the German Central Bank. He moved to Frankfurt from the Chancellery in Berlin. The defender of a stable currency is familiar with the region from his time as Secretary-General of the group of “five economic experts” in Wiesbaden. Video artist Douglas Gordon runs the film class at the Städel Academy. The video artist from Glasgow has had offers from international art academies for years. The new rector, Nikolaus Hirsch, however, succeeded in getting him to come to Frankfurt. Mickey Rourke Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi Fraunhofer 26 New in FRM Jens Weidmann picture-alliance/dpa // Hollywood Star Mickey Rourke has apparently bought a second home in Wiesbaden. According to the news paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung the “enfant terrible” of American movies is moving to FrankfurtRhineMain because his girlfriend’s parents live in the region. IT expert Prof. Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi will be devoting himself to the new subject “System Security” at Darmstadt Technical University. The worldrenowned researcher comes from Ruhr Uni versity in Bochum. The Hessen promotional program Loewe made the appointment possible. Advertisement 03 Editorial > Petra Roth 06People > Für nachhaltige Lebensqualität haben wir den stärksten Partner: die Natur. Nadia Qani Andrea Petkovic 10Networks > The Digital Hub 20Discoveries > The world of the Celts 26FRM Series > LIMBURG Glauburg Main-Taunus-Kreis 34 FRM news 35 FRM Pocket Guide 36 Excellence > Thomas Reiter 40Events > Broadway on Taunusanlage 46Excursions > Garden RhineMain 52Excellence > Rainer W. Schlegelmilch 58 Preview Imprint 4 5 FRM 01 I 11 Die Natur gibt uns alles, was wir brauchen. Wenn wir nicht zu viel BAD HOMBURG von ihr verlangen. Deshalb ist es Zeit, zu handeln. Die HSE hat OberUrsel Kelkheim Wiesbaden MAINZ sich Eschborn HOFHEIM FRANKFURT OFFENBACH RÜSSELSHEIM klassischen DARMSTADT für Versorger verantwortungsvollen zum Vorsorger für Wandel entschieden: vom mehr Lebensqualität. Mit einem ganzheitlichen Blick auf Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft und Umwelt. ASCHAFFENBURG GROSS-GERAU frühzeitig Oder einfach gesagt: HSE. Das Ganze sehen. Mehr unter www.hse.ag HEAG Südhessische Energie AG (HSE) // People in FRM NaDIA QANI A strong woman who spent her youth in Afghanistan, escaped to Germany, and rose to entrepreneur in Frankfurt It’s like with a kaleidoscope. When Nadia Qani talks about her life, new facets of it become visible like the colorful stones inside the children’s toy, forming a fascinating overall picture. Individual 1 50°7'22.08"N 8 °4 1 ' 1 1 . 6 2 " E colors shine particularly brightly. Her childhood and youth in Afghanistan. In 1980, her escape to Germany from the Russians. Her life with two children in Frankfurt. And finally building up a successful company. Her experiences make for nuances in the color spectrum. In Afghanistan she was married to the grandson of the former viceroy. She arrived in Germany with just a handbag and F a thin dress. She kept her head above water as a housekeeper, cashier, decorator and nurse for the elderly – always carrying a rucksack with clothes with her in order to be dressed appropriately. Nadia Qani is sitting in the office of her nursing service in the Frankfurt district of Bornheim as she talks about the pictures and certificates on the walls, her commitment to Afghan women and her company – 54 employees from 23 countries who care for the elderly and speak their patients’ mother tongues. She talks about how proud she is at having given some 700 people a job, and as such a livelihood, since becoming self-employed. A successful career “made in Germany”. “I have become a happy person here.” Nadia Qani leaps up. She has to get to her next appointment where she’ll be reading from her book which appeared last fall, “Ich bin eine Deutsche aus Afghanistan” (I am a German from Afghanistan). It’s a long story . . . www.ahp-qani.de I STARTED OUT DOING MENIAL JOBS AND HAVE SINCE CREATED JOBS FOR OVER 700 PEOPLE The recipient of numerous awards: 6 7 FRM 01 I 11 Jonas Ratermann (2) Nadja Qani at a reception with former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Powerful and quick-witted: Andrea Petkovic calls her Facebook friends „Petkorazzis“ The mind needs to be trained just like everything else Andrea Petkovic A true personality at home in South Hesse, successful in the tennis world as well as in her studies She is not a tennis princess. “I’m just not the girly type!”, says Andrea Petkovic. Rather the tomboy. Honest and direct. Loved by her fans and fellow professionals. At the same time she’s an entertainer 1 4 9 ° 5 1 ' 1 7. 8 2 " N 8°3 4'5. 81"E who has enchanted the public from Miami to Melbourne, most recently with the “Petko” shuffle she performs upon winning. She still keeps her home in Griesheim, near Darmstadt. Andrea was born in the former Yugoslavia in 1987, coming to Germany when she was just six months old. At school she skipped a grade and graduated with top grades. Her father Zoran wanted her to study law, but Andrea had other plan. She made a bet with her father that if she didn’t make it to the international top 50 within two years, she’d give up professional tennis. Andrea won that bet. Today she’s 15th in world rankings and is considered the great tennis hope for Germany. She masterfully led German’s women’s tennis team to a 5:0 victory over the USA. In large tournaments, she’s beaten world-class Markus Hintzen (3) players like Marija Scharapowa and Caroline Wozniacki. “The mind needs to be trained just like everything else”, she says of her mental strength. Alongside professional sport, Andrea Petkovic is also pushing ahead towards a degree in Politics from the Open University at Hagen. She’s not reliant on tennis. It’s the sport that needs people like her. www.andreapetkovic.de F 1 // Networks A JOURNEY TO THE INNER CORE OF NETW ORKS The Digital Hub FrankfurtRhineMain 2011: An odyssey into the foreign cosmos of digital infrastructure, to computer centers, control rooms and security checks By Martin Orth and Michael Hudler (photos) So this is how the journey into the world of networks begins. “Close the security gate!” In a quiet voice, the security guard relays instructions to the control room. The cylinder closes behind us. Inside the building it’s claustrophobic. The corridors are clinically white. A strong steel door seals off an air-conditioned room in which the high-performance computers, lined up like in a warehouse for US-size refrigerators, are busy flashing away. “De-Cix” is written on the computer cabinets and Frank Orlowski, who is guiding us on our way into this IT underworld, announces succinctly, “This is the world’s largest Internet hub.” We look on reverently, pondering how superfluous and disruptive mankind is in a world in which computers converse with other computers. In this cosmos, things are enough for each other. The whirring of the air conditioning and computer fans make up for the lack of visual activity. Then, from an almost galactic distance, we perceive our travel guide’s voice again, “Whether you’re Googling in Dubai or contacting friends in Iowa on Facebook – just assume that the data passes through Frankfurt, measured, incidentally, in terabytes and petabytes per second. A petabyte is a number with 15 zeros,” he informs us as we make our way back to real life. We note down a number with 15 zeros, so 1000,000,000,000,000 bytes. Digital Hub With its super-efficient fiber optic network and high concentration of computer centers, FrankfurtRhineMain has the biggest confluence of data worldwide. The House of IT was established in Darmstadt (l.) 10 11 FRM 01 I 11 // 12 13 Networks FRM 01 I 11 Frank Orlowski Peter Knapp In the next few years the manager of De-Cix, the world’s largest Internet exchange, anticipates a rapid increase in traffic data The managing director of Interxion, a leading computer center operator, is focused on expanding. A seventh computer center in Frankfurt is being planned // Networks Helmut Kahl Frank Orlowski, responsible for business development and marketing at Deutsche Commercial In- The Service Manager of Deutsche Telekom’s International Net Management Center sees the beginning of the success story in terms of a long-distance cable that inters ected in Frankfurt ternet Exchange (De-Cix), is sitting in the meeting room located in the docks east of the city, and as a matter of routine lets the figures speak for themselves. The company looks after over 400 Internet service providers from more than 40 countries. In 2010, 63 new Internet service providers signed up with De-Cix. The data traffic from existing clients is growing exceedingly fast at 100 to 200 percent per year. On top of that there are new clients. “By the end of 2015 I’m expecting 20 times the volume of data – primarily as a result of the increasing broadcast of high-resolution TV content.” The facts flow from the Internet manager with professional emphasis. “The De-Cix hub”, he says reassuringly, “is already designed to handle data throughput of up to 40 terabytes per second.” 1 DE-CIX 5 0 ° 6 '4 4 . 6 8 " N 8 °4 3 ' 7. 5 6 " E 2 InterXion 5 0°7 '10. 81"N 8 °4 4 '4 . 6 7 " E telling him to hurry. The company operates independent computer centers and is one of the German 3 Telekom (INMC) 50°8'5.56"N 8°39'21.83"E so to speak” for their computers. In it, the temperature might also be an issue, but the main con- 4 Infraserv 50°5' 9.4 3"N 8 ° 3 3 '4 . 3 1 " E protection against down times, a state of affairs which immediately gives the shivers to anyone 5 B + S Card 50°5'1.68"N 8°37'51 .6 4"E battery-operated networks and generator stations ensure maximum failure safety. All data can be 6 House of IT 49°52 '21 . 81"N 8°38'5.67"E Peter Knapp does not have much time today. The Managing Director of Interxion’s BlackBerry is market’s leading provider. He says that he provides his clients with “a large air-conditioned room, cern is optimum security, high connection security, and primarily reliable electricity supplies as a who has ever had anything to do with it. Independent electricity sources together with back-up mirrored in other Interxion computer centers. Every month, for example, Interxion client De-Cix, switches to a different site for security reasons. Peter Knapp is a business man, but a “driver” as well. “With a fiber optic cable network hundreds of kilometers long, the highest concentration of computer centers, and the largest Internet exchange, F 1/2/3/4/5 6 the digital world revolves around FrankfurtRhineMain,” he says. This is why more and more companies are settling in the region. B+S Card in the Bürostadt Niederrad district processes 60 percent of non-cash transactions in Germany; its computers are located at Equinix in Kruppstrasse. Atos Origin, the IT partner of the Olympic Games, is looking for a computer center in the region. Major clients such as Commerzbank, Neckermann and Thomas Cook welcome the local operator. The creative sector has also discovered the advantages. The success that Crytek, the showpiece games developer, has enjoyed would have been unimaginable without the company’s proximity to De-Cix. “Strengthening strengths”. This could well be the motto of the recently founded association “Digital Hub FrankfurtRhineMain”. It goes without saying that Peter Knapp is involved. Together with Frank Orlowski from De-Cix and business promoter Peter Kania he forms the trio running it. The association intends to give the sector a name. Ancotel, Goethe University, Netzdienste Rhein-Main (a subsidiary of the utility company Mainova), Infraserv, the Institute for New Media and the Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center all belong to it. As its trump card in terms of international competition, the region can also bring to bear legal security and energy supply, of existential importance for the sector. City councilor Markus Frank, in whose ambit the digital economy falls, sees the opportunities for the region and the future of the “Digital Hub” as rosy. At no. 18 Schmickstrasse, we meet someone who knows just what holds things in the inner core of the digital world together. Michael Klein, director of the Institute for New Media, has been living in this universe ever since the Internet’s “Big Bang”. “Put very simply you have to imagine the world like this: Planet Earth is surrounded by a gigantic network of cables and satellites, which are connected to each other by hubs. The hubs are computer centers housing the computers of big international telephone 14 15 FRM 01 I 11 // 16 17 Networks FRM 01 I 11 Volker Lindenstruth Lubna Kabir The professor of architecture for high-performance computers has now built a supercomputer, which is quicker, cheaper and uses less energy than most others The marketing expert at B+S Card, one of the leading IT service providers for non-cash trans actions is banking on expansion in Europe – from Frankfurt // Networks Peter Buxmann companies, search engines and social networks, where they can exchange data securely and in a neu- The professor of business information (l.) is building up the House of IT. The Center for Advanced Security Research (Cased) is part of it tral place, as the global Internet consists of 45,000 sub-networks”, he explains. The next stop on our journey lies at the foot of the telecommunications tower in Frankfurt. Here, Deutsche Telekom controls its international voice, Internet and data traffic in the International Net Management Center (INMC). A gigantic 70-square meter screen in the control room displays the operational status of the worldwide net. If an error is indicated, the system automatically searches for substitute routes in other nets and in milliseconds switches to other transmission lines. HowFrankfurtRhineMain Digital Hub ever, the quickest route is not always the best. In that case, things are done manually. 25 employees The “Digital Hub Frankfurt RhineMain”, an association of partners from business, science and the City of Frank furt, intends to reveal and advance the unique qualities of the region’s digital infra structure. occurred in Japan, the warning lights began flashing in the Frankfurt district of Ginnheim. Data www.digitalhub-frm.de manage the net around the clock, calmly and as a matter of routine. When the recent earthquake could no longer be transferred to the Japanese net. As Helmut Kahl, the INMC Service Manager explains, “there was a lot of news traffic there, and faults in the net, which meant that at times it was too overloaded to accommodate additional foreign traffic.” Together with Clemens Jochum, Wolfgang König, head of the House of Finance at the Campus West- end in Frankfurt, runs the “Frankfurt Cloud” research consortium. With the support of Deutsche Bank, 15 top researchers from various disciplines are looking for future solutions in “cloud com- Frankfurt Cloud With the support of Deutsche Bank, the “Frankfurt Cloud” research consortium, affiliated with Goethe University in Frankfurt, is attempting to develop cloud management technology aimed at better utilizing computer capacities. www.frankfurt-cloud.com puting”. König is sitting in his office on the 4th floor of the House of Finance. He leans back and gets right to the point of the ambitious project which is basically about using computer capacities more effectively. “Networking computers with one another, identifying those that are not working to capacity, sending them computing jobs and having the results sent back. That is what ought to happen.” The team has already landed a coup. Volker Lindenstruth opens the old measuring station on the Infraserv site in the Höchst district of Frankfurt. On the first floor the former Hoechst AG control room, with its dials and meters, has been preserved for posterity. On the converted ground floor, the future hums. This is where the Loewe CSC works. “Part of the Loewe CSC computer hub runs under Frankfurt Cloud management” he says en- House of IT thusiastically. He is so stirring when he talks about dynamic computer center concepts that laymen are left breathless. The supercomputer he’s developed is one of the 25 fastest in the world and, at five Like the House of Finance and the House of Logistics and Mobility, the House of IT in Darmstadt, a project initiated by business, science and the Hessen state government, intends to bundle the sector’s strengths in the region. million euros, is two thirds cheaper than comparable computers. On top of that, Loewe CSC can pride www.house-of-it.eu the biggest cost factor in operating a mainframe computer. itself on being Europe’s best mainframe computer in terms of energy efficiency. Lindenstruth achieved this with several tricks that are as simple as they are ingenious. As processors, he primarily used standard PC graphics boards which he says “achieve up to 50 times the computing power of the main computing unit in a PC”. To this end he devised an innovative, intelligent cooling system that uses just a fraction of the energy usually required. An enormous advantage for “Frankfurt Cloud”, as energy is The Digital Hub also promotes Karl-Heinz Streibich’s vision of establishing a new “Silicon Valley” in FrankfurtRhineMain. In March, the head of Software AG announced the founding of the House of IT in Darmstadt, with which the office of the Federal Government’s Cluster of Excellence “Software Innovations for the Digital Company” and the Center for Advanced Security Research (Cased) are affiliated. Peter Buxmann is a business information specialist at Darmstadt Technical University and the project leader for the start-up initiative. He looks forebodingly out of the large windows and across the university’s new IT campus. “The future Internet is going to be our subject matter.” That, though, is another journey. 18 19 FRM 01 I 11 \\ // Discoveries Far-reaching views The “Keltenwelt am Glauberg” showcases spectacular archaeo logical finds and provides insights into life 2,500 years ago. Further more, the new museum offers a wonderful view over the distant countryside in the Wetterau region The world of the Celts A journey through time in the Wetterau region Who was the ferocious Celtic prince? How did he acquire his wealth? How did people live 2,500 years ago? The “Keltenwelt am Glauberg”, the newest museum in Frankfurt RhineMain, answers these questions and more. It takes us on an exciting journey into the early history of the region By Janet Schayan and Markus Hintzen (photos) The Middle Ages The Migration Period The Roman Empire 0 + 500 + 1 000 PERIODs -500 The Iron Age cULTUREs The Franks (Merovingians) 1 GLAUBERG 50°18'52. 25"N 8°59'55.56"E 2 SAALBURG 50°16'20.6 8"N 8°3 3'59. 8 5"E The Alamanni The Romans, the Chatti The Early Germanic Peoples The Celts 2 1 F -1 000 The Hallstatt culture -2 000 The Bronze Age > The way to the past leads upwards. With gentle twists and turns, past meadows, fields and flowering rapeseed. Two buzzards circle above in the blue sky. A perfect day in the Wetterau region. The Glauberg is 270 meters high, which is not exactly spectacular, but this striking ridge has something unique. In the mid-1990s, at the bottom of a steep, narrow gravel path that leads to the plateau, archaeologists made a find that attracted the world’s attention to the region: They unearthed an almost completely preserved 1.86-meter high sandstone statue from around 450 BC. The image of a ferocious looking “Celtic prince”. The corners of his mouth, drawn downward as they are, give us an idea of why the Romans feared the Celts’ “furor”, their lust for The New Stone Age fighting. The statue had been lying in the ground for 2,500 years. It was a sensational find. No one had any inkling that a Celtic princely seat ever existed as far north as Germany. Traces of the Celts were discovered as far back as 800 BC through to the beginning of the Common Era. They were based in Upper Austria and Switzerland, from where they spread across what is now France (“Gallier”), as far away as Great Britain and the Iberian Peninsula, as well as to Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. They had a common language and culture, but “the” Celts were as little united as “the” Scholars had long assumed that the Glauberg could be an archaeological treasure chest. The The Middle Stone Age -10 000 -5 500 Germanic peoples. nearly level 800-meter long and up to 200-meter wide plateau was a sort of natural fortress, inhabited repeatedly from the New Stone Age to the Middle Ages. Time and again, excavations had unearthed the remains of ceramic vessels (to date more than three tons), but nothing sensational. It was an exploratory flight by local historian Werner Erk that provided the impetus to investigate not the plateau, but the ground to the south of it. In 1988 Erk detected large circular areas of discoloration in a field. The last visible traces of a burial mound 48 meters in diameter. The Paleolithic Age There, and in a smaller neighboring grave, the team headed by the former Hessen state archaeologist Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann uncovered the sumptuously filled graves of three Celtic warriors. The burial objects are extraordinarily grand and are proof of the fact that even though, like -600 000 all Celts, they had no written culture, the ancient inhabitants of the Wetterau region certainly Source: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, Hessen appreciated beautiful things. A bronze beaked flagon boasts delicate figures and is still filled with the remains of mead. There are delicately worked bronze brooches, rings, bracelets, a gold neck ring with human heads, remains of shoe buttons and textiles indicating close contacts with southern Europe. The archaeologists also discovered traces of a 350-meter long processional way and an entire set of mysterious graves nearly three-meters deep which run throughout the site. A short distance away they came across the statue of the “Celt prince” – as well as Modern treasure chamber The striking museum building pushes its way into the past from Glauberg. In the archaeo logical park, the burial mound, mysterious graves and piling were all reconstructed fragments of three similar figures. The most unusual thing was that down to the very last detail, the neck ring, bracelet, shield, and dagger of the preserved statue, all are identical to those of an approximately 50-year old male in one of the other graves. Remains of the mysterious bulging entity that frames the statue’s head were even found – a cap-like “crown of leaves”. Is the sculpture of the dead man? Who was the ferocious Prince of the Wetterau? Was Glauberg a seat of power or a shrine? What was everyday life like for the Celts there? Where did they come from // Discoveries and why did they disappear after 200 years? “Keltenwelt am Glauberg” opened in May as a museum, 30-hectare archaeological park, and research center all in one, providing answers to these questions and more. The museum building sports a rust-brown Corten steel facade – “a reference to the Celts’ metalworking skills,” says its architect Gerhard Wittfeld from Aachen. The edifice literally pushes its way out of Glauberg like a telescope into the past. It points its focus, a giant panoramic window, southward to the reconstructed burial mound. The architecture plays with our notions of inside and outside. On the inside everything leads to the statue of the “Celtic prince”. Unlike the other treasures, it’s not behind glass and can be openly observed from all sides. The whole room is bathed in darkness, and the exhibits are presented with a feeling for dramatics and visitors are taken on an archaeological expedition. The walls are based on layers of earth. There are vivid illustrations of the meticulous efforts put in to uncover the burial chambers, compressed to just a few centimeters under the pressure of the earth, by archaeologists from the Hessen State Archaeology Office’s restoration workshop in Wiesbaden. There are views of holograms of reconstructed finds, audio niches and film animations of what the Celtic settlement at Glauberg, where 400 people lived more as farmers than warriors, could have looked like. The museum is a state-of-the-art adventure trail leading to an unimaginably distant era. The history of the excavations on Glauberg under the Nazis is not neglected either, and is subjected to critical appraisal. The fact that on this journey through time to the 5th century BC the valuable finds from Glauberg can be viewed at their source, and not in the state museum in Darmstadt, or in Frankfurt or Bad Nauheim, is of great help. All these ideas formed part of the at times lively discussion, and the fact that the Wetterau region would one day have a state museum of its own was by no means a matter of course. This is thanks to the “HessenArchäologie 21” concept devised by the state archaeologist De-central state archaeological museum 01 K eltenwelten am Glauberg The museum, archaeological park and research center at Glauberg offer a wide range of interactive guided tours and workshops for all age groups. Opening hours: daily, 10.00 a.m. until 6.00 p.m. www.keltenweltglauberg.de 02 S aalburg Roman Fort The only Roman fort world wide to have been restored and the archaeological museum are located at the Limes World Cultural Herit age Site, the ancient border separating the Romans from the Germanic peoples. Opening hours: March – October: daily, 9.00 a.m. until 6.00 p.m. November – February: daily except Monday, 9.00 a.m. until 4.00 p.m. www.saalburgmuseum.de Egon Schallmayer. He places importance on a “de-central state museum” and individual historical epochs should be presented in various places. Together with the Saalburg Roman fortress in the Taunus hills, the “Keltenwelt” is now the second important element whose significance extends far beyond the region itself. As the crow flies, the two archaeological highlights in FrankfurtRhineMain are only 40 kilometers away from each other. High academic standards and a popular, informative experience, this is a formula that applies to Saalburg and Glauberg in equal measure. In “Keltenwelt” the affiliated research center headed by Ines Balzer will ensure that new findings will feature in the exhibition as quickly as possible. As has been the case to date, the universities of Mainz and Frankfurt, as well as numerous volunteers from the region will be involved in the research work. In addition, Balzer is establishing a network of international experts. Excavation is due to begin again soon on Glauberg. There are still so many unanswered questions – Balzer would like to find out why the rather inconspicuous settlement became such a monumental cult site. Or where the wealth in the graves came from – from iron, from salt? What purpose did the strange graves serve? There are bound to be several more surprises slumbering underground on Glauberg. The way to the past often also leads downwards. 24 25 F R M 0 1 I 1 1 \\ Mysterious traces By means of numerous interactive modules, the museum brings the era of the Celts from Glauberg to life. Original finds such as swords, jewelry and the fascinating sand stone statue of the “Celtic prince” are also on display // FRM Series frm Series MainTaunusKreis Bad Soden Eppstein Holger und Ralf HENRICH “OBSTHOF” MANAGERS // KRIFTEL Schwalbach Eschborn Kelkheim Sulzbach Liederbach 5 0 °4 '4 3 . 2 8 " N 8 ° 2 7 '4 0 . 1 8 " E Hofheim Krif tel Hattersheim Flörsheim OPPOSITES ATTRACT Hochheim A DISTRICT AND THE STORY BEHIND IT In terms of opposites, the Main-Taunus-Kreis district has a lot to offer: High-tech and craftsmanship, countryside and culture, economic clout and agriculture, local specialties and global players. A small district, with a lot going for it BY ULRICH MÜLLER-BAUN and JONAS RATERMANN (PHOTOS) > Looking back. The area that now comprises the 227,055 inhabitants from 160 countries live between towering Main-Taunus-Kreis district can look back on a dis- glass façades and fortified castle walls, high climbing rocks and tinctly tumultuous territorial history. For centuries it came un- vineyards facing the sun, between strawberry fields and dark der the influence of various secular and religious rulers. The forests, between the River Main and the wind-beaten ridges of archbishops and electors of Mainz had their hands in the pot just the Taunus hills. as much as the masters in Eppstein. Furthermore, the Landgrave of Hessen and the House of Isenburg were heavily in on the act. As such, Germany’s third most economically powerful district is The imperial city of Frankfurt and the Archbishopric of Mainz, carefully defined at the heart of FrankfurtRhineMain. With agri- on the other hand, exerted a joint protectorate over the imperial cultural land and forests making up 60 percent of its surface area, villages of Soden and Sulzbach. It was Napoleon who, in tune it offers idyllic nature. 17,300 registered companies provide its with the times, finally put an end to the system of city states in economic pulse. And as if it were par for the course, the geo- the Rhine-Main Region, and by 1806 the area became a single en- graphic proximity to the major German transport hubs (Frank- tity, the Duchy of Nassau, for the first time. More than 100 years furt Airport, the Frankfurter Kreuz interstate interchange and later, on April 1, 1928, under the insignificant number 13321, the Frankfurt Central Station) mean the entire world is within easy Prussian State Law defined the 222.4 square kilometers that had reach, bringing the region its cosmopolitan flair. Groups with been determined on the drawing board as its territory. Today, 26 27 FRM 01 I 11 global operations particularly appreciate the central location. HOFHEIM am taunus District town 38,265 inhabitants If young people need role models, the next generation in this district town has an invaluable advantage. The biochemist Hartmut Michel, who in 1988 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the determination of the threedimensional structure of a photosynthetic reaction center, lives in Hofheim. KRIFTEL Fruit-growing community 10,742 inhabitants Favorite color: Strawberry red. This also applies to local resident Lutz Wagner. The former German football league referee from Kriftel, who refereed a total of 197 first division matches and more than 74 second division ones, even managed to redcard footballer Diego Klimovicz no less than four times during his career. Year for year, 200 tons of strawberries are harvested on the fruit farms in “MTK”, enough for half a million juicy strawberry cakes. Not enough to be satisfied, however, at least for Holger and Ralf Henrich, heirs to the fruit farm “Obsthof am Berg” in Kriftel. The two drinks technology engineers stand for both tradition and the future in the community. The two brothers considered the cooperative marketing and direct sale of their products, which had been successful for decades, to be anything but in tune with the times, “The soil couldn’t be better; fruit has been grown in this district for ages. For this reason alone the tradition must be continued.” But it was also time to face the changed market conditions, they say in unison. They recall that the foundation for the positive trend in business was laid in 1983 with the acquisition of distilling rights and a distillery, taxed not on the basis of the quantity produced but the type and amount of material used. Together with their father Horst Henrich, they switched the fruit farm’s focus to pressing and distilling. The good thing about it is that, “The scent and taste of our distillates is 100 percent from the fruit used. We’re against added sugar and fruit essences in the finished distillate. After all, good schnapps shouldn’t be unpleasantly sharp and doesn’t need enhancements,” they say, underscoring their ecological mindset. Next year, Holger and Ralf Henrich are planning a very special surprise. They’re to launch the very first Kriftel single malt whisky, currently maturing in wooden casks and due to be bottled in 2012. And before it’s forgotten, there’s also always fresh fruit on sale at “Obsthof”. Not just strawberries, but also raspberries, redcurrants, sour cherries, mirabelle plums, damsons, peaches, pears, apples and quinces, from mid-May to November. www.obsthof-am-berg.de SULZBACH Market town 8,391 inhabitants Even in the Middle Ages, production of the regional cheese “Handkäs'” was widespread in Sulzbach. Back then the Sulzbach farmers’ wives sold the cheese at markets in Frankfurt, earning the village the nickname “Käsbach”. Reason enough for the inhabitants, as part of the 950th anniversary celebrations, to erect a bronze statue and, since 2010, elect a female “Käsfraa”. 28 29 FRM 01 I 11 Hochheim Wine town 16,874 inhabitants But far more visitors. One of them: the 3rd President of the United States and co-author of the American Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson. He liked the taste of the wine from the banks of the River Main so much that he even took some vines with him so as to export it to his homeland . Gunter Künstler VINTNER // HOCHHEIM Nele neuhaus DETECTIVE STORY AUTHOR // KELKHEIM 5 0°0'39.6 6"N 8°20'50.05"E 5 0 ° 8 '4 4 . 9 2 " N 8°27'25.42"E Vinters are if anything basically eloquent people. And Gunter Künstler is no exception. “Among the big names in Rheingau wines, the Rüdesheimer, the Johannisberger, and the Hochheimer, there can be no discussing the order of ranking …”, he says, quoting Goethe. And that’s not because the burden of proof that his wines deserve special recognition would be on him. The annual national and international awards do that. The Künstler vineyard in Hochheim is without a doubt one of the most renowned in Germany, and Künstler wines are among the best. Since 1992 he and his wife Monika, together with a committed team, have continued the philosophy of this family-run business with a long-standing tradition (“I want only the best”). And this in a region which can produce top wines like scarcely any other due to its extraordinary location. The best product results if “you apply a firm but sensitive, intuitive hand to the wine at just the right time,” says Künstler. He’s nothing but affectionate in his description of the location’s advantages. He emphasizes the way the light reflects and the how the Rivers Main and Rhine store heat, the protection the Taunus hills offer from cold northerly winds and the longer amount of sunshine. “All natural reasons for the grapes becoming particularly mature and the acidity being pleasant.” A fact that in 1845 even attracted the Queen of England, Victoria, after whom a vineyard in Hochheim is named, to the town on the banks of the River Main. A fact that also ensured that from 1870 until 1914 wines from Hochheim were even on sale under the name Hock at the wine merchants Berry Brothers in London. Even greater is that, along with red Bordeaux, the Rheingau wine was one of the top wines in the world. As such, Künstler knows that he’s among good company in his profession, one that goes back 2,000 years and more. The discovery of a Roman vine knife proves that even the ancient Romans grew wine in Hochheim. Nele Neuhaus has always written. First by hand in school workbooks, later with an old portable typewriter. Nowadays on a laptop at the kitchen table. Neuhaus was born in 1967 in Münster, Westphalia, the second of four children of the Löwenberg family. She grew up in Paderborn and became familiar with the setting for her Taunus-based detective stories when her father was elected district administrator of Main-Taunus-Kreis when she was 11. And she did so properly: “I’ve always ridden and for that reason alone know all the nooks and crannies,” she says in explanation of the detailed descriptions of places in her novels. At her readings, she’s often asked whether it really is so idyllic in the Taunus. Then the positive attributes just spout forth. From the clean air to the wonderful people there. Many of them, like the figure of the Director of the Opel Zoo, crop up in her novels, though Thomas Kauffels is one of those Nele Neuhaus asked beforehand. His answer was simple, “As long as I’m not the murderer ...” And we can give this much away, nor is he in her new detective story. As an author, her love of the Taunus only blossomed after her debut novel “Unter Haien” (Among sharks). The book tells the story of a female investment banker from Germany in New York City. “There was a lot of research. Then I had the idea to set my novels here in the future.” Not without success. Since early 2008 Nele Neuhaus has been under contract with the publishers Ullstein Verlag in Berlin and her books are now sold in 20 countries. On the back of “Wer Wind sät” (Whoever sows the wind) there could well be a few more, and not only because she reveals an almost prophetic sense for social questions in it. When she finished the book, which takes the reader as far as the Hessen Ministry of the Environment, the disaster at the Japanese nuclear power station was still an unimaginable nightmare and the energy debate was ongoing without any real direction. www.weingut-kuenstler.de www.neleneuhaus.de KelkhEim Furniture town 27,537 inhabitants Several of whom were honored with the Heinrich-Freiherr- von-Gagern Award for their services to democracy and their facilities in the town. Not by chance: The first President of the National Assembly in Paulskirche in Frankfurt (1848) was the well-known descendant of the von Gagern family, who for many years lived on Hornauer Estate. EPPSTEIN Castle town 13,254 inhabitants A wonderful fairytale surrounds the town’s interesting history. According to the story, a knight named Eppo built the fortress in the 10th or 11th century. On the spot where he freed a Fräulein von Falkenstein from the hands of a giant and, it’s said, buried its bones in the walls. // FRM Series s Top-Management THOMAS MÜLLER ENTREPRENEUR // BAD SODEN Dr. Jörg C. Uhl CORPORATE COMMUNICATOR // SCHWALBACH 50°8'15.68"N 8°30'34.88"E 50°8'3 8 .0 4"N 8 ° 3 1' 5 1 . 0 4 " E No, Thomas Müller is not a particularly good dancer. “Best not go down that road,” the 61-year-old says, avoiding the subject. He doesn’t have to be. He has other fish to fry. For 32 years now the fourth-generation head of the family-run company Diamant Tanzschuhe in Bad Soden has ensured that people in 37 countries can skillfully flit across the dance floor wearing shoes that weigh just a couple of hundred grams. Müller has been involved in the manufacture of shoes for over 40 years, having learned the trade at the ARS Suttoria School in Milan. The history of the Müller family began with the founding of a “business for the production of natural shoes” by the master shoemaker Eberhard Müller in 1873 in Frankfurt’s Ziegelgasse. The only manufacturer of dancing shoes in Germany moved to Bad Soden in 1958 when Angulus Otto Müller KG was founded. 17 years later, under the name “Diamant”, a collection of dance shoes was launched that renowned German dancers, male and female, had helped design. Having specialized in dance shoes, the company changed its name to Diamant Schuhfabrik Otto Müller KG in 1982. Thanks to improved process automation and the use of cutting-edge technology, there is now a choice of over 80 different models. A wide range of materials, heels and widths enables in excess of 1,000 versions. “Made in Bad Soden” has long since become a special quality seal. Several million shoes have already been dispatched throughout the world from this little spa town. And they’re also affordable. “They don’t have to be expensive,” the boss says. Despite high-tech advancements, a Diamant dance shoe still involves a lot of craftsmanship of up to 40 stages – performed by employees who in some cases are themselves part of the family. With regard to the future, Thomas Müller doesn’t need to worry. His wife Petra Müller-Unger is just as much by his side as their children Bianca and Oliver. The Procter & Gamble success story can normally be told quickly with figures, data, and facts. But what’s actually normal about P&G? Founded in Cincinnati in 1837, the road to success in Germany began in Frankfurt in 1960 with five employees responsible for two brands. Not for long. Just ten years later the company relocated to Schwalbach. Today, throughout the country, more than 14,000 of the 127,000 employees worldwide work on expanding P&G’s position as one of the leading suppliers of consumer articles, 2,000 in Schwalbach alone. The large ratio of women employees extends to the top management, and a woman, Pirjo Väliaho, runs the entire operation. P&G products fill shelves across the country, with on average almost ten per household. From Wella hair setting lotion and Tempo paper tissues to Pampers. “We play in the Champions League,” says Jörg C. Uhl, head of corporate communications and a member of the executive board, pointing to an almost ten-meter long graphic work of art in the hall. They are all featured: Klementine, Meister Propper and co. – it’s a rendezvous of famous brand names. In front of it there’s an oversized bench: “From R & D”, the doctor of natural sciences says, grinning. A group with global operations in a small town? “At first sight it might well seem that a group with global operations and a small town do not suit each other, but we see things differently. The location is ideal for us. The proximity to the airport, the Taunus hills for living and working. The familyfriendliness. The people that live here. It all suits us. After all, more than half our employees live in Main-Taunus-Kreis. In the place where our employees live and work it’s important for us to make a contribution to the common good in a spirit of partnership. For example with the “Schwalbacher Gespräche” discussions,” says Uhl. “Not without reason do the former employees, who meet almost every two years in Schwalbach, feel they are coming home.” www.diamant.net 30 31 FRM 01 I 11 Bad Soden Spa town 21,657 inhabitants Was an international spa town and meeting place for famous guests from around Europe even in the mid-19th century. The town makes particular reference to the fact that Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy enjoyed the summers of 1844 and 1845 in Bad Soden. And incidentally, world famous painter Elvira Bach was born in Neuenhain. FLÖRSHEIM Town on the banks of the River Main 20,220 inhabitants As long as there’s no proof to the contrary, Flörsheim can secretly claim that one of the biggest shoe manufacturers in the world, the “Florsheim Shoe Company”, has its roots in the town on the River Main. The small workshop was founded in Chicago by Milton Florsheim and his father Sigmund in 1892. HATTERSHEIM Celtic town 25,493 inhabitants In earlier times there were Celts, as finds have revealed. Later on there were inventors, like Anton Flettner, whose Flettner rotor is still a household name in aviation and seafaring today. The teacher, engineer, and tinker from Eddersheim went to the United States in 1947. The house where he was born is now a kindergarten. Schwalbach Town on the Limes 14,694 inhabitants A pretty middle-class environment for a small girl called Sabrina Setlur. But there’s more to it than that. Born in 1974 in Frankfurt, the daughter of Indian immigrants has sold more than two million CDs, making her the most successful female interpreter of Germanlanguage Rap. www.pg.com Dr. Bernd Eisenblätter MANAGEMENT BOARD SPOKESMAN // ESCHBORN 5 0 ° 8 '47. 4 1" N 8°33'12.19"E LIEDERBACH Old town 8,731 inhabitants Small, but very old. The oldest traces of human existence in Main-Taunus-Kreis were found on a spur of land on the boundaries of Liederbach. The pebble tools found to the south of the location are estimated to be an amazing 300,000 to 600,000 years old. ESCHBORN Exchange town 20,789 inhabitants In 1988 Eschborn set itself the task of taking art from museums and putting it where the people are. One year later, the town’s citizens came up with another idea: the Eschborn Sculpture Axis. In the summer of 1992, Gisela Weber installed the first sculpture. Since then, ten of these impressive monuments have been created. Even from a distance of 100 meters it’s difficult to make out the difference between the old lettering GTZ, which hung for 35 years on the building of the Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in Eschborn, and the new combination of letters GIZ, with which it was replaced at the beginning of the year. And yet the new year brought about many changes for the location on Dag Hammarskjöld Weg. The merger of GTZ with the two other development aid organizations DED and Inwent to form the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit was the “difficult birth of a giant baby”, as a secretary of state from the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development in Berlin put it. Hardly flattering, but to the point. A big coup. The GIZ operates from Eschborn in 130 countries worldwide. It has a total payroll of almost 20,000 employees and has an annual turnover of around €1.9 billion. In Eschborn alone there is a workforce of 1,700. One of them is Bernd Eisenblätter, born in Mainz in 1944. Since January 2011 he’s been the spokesman of the GIZ Management Board, a man for whom the term global player has acquired a very personal significance. Someone who’s at home in the world and yet who still needs no explanations when it comes to HQ in Eschborn. “No, not at all,” he says. “Frankfurt and the region are a brand with which everyone is familiar. Of course he also rates Eschborn for mobility reasons. But there’s more to it. “At GIZ we’re reliant on mobility. With the airport, train station and interstate interchange we’re perfectly catered to here. The fact that our employees in the district can also get to the HQ by bicycle is outstanding. We actively support this, and two years ago won an award for being the “most bicycle-friendly company” in the Rhine-Main region,” the head development expert says in praise. www.giz.de 32 33 FRM 01 I 11 From Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Samsung to Deutsche between Eschborn and Hochheim. The district offers younger in- Bank, part of whose HQ is based in Eschborn, and from the Ge habitants, a diverse school system with 55 efficient schools, and sellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to the Deut- purposely pursues the objective it has set for itself to provide a sche Börse, which recently relocated to “The Cube” its new cor- high level of education that promotes the skills of all its children. porate headquarters in Eschborn, there are more than a dozen From school social work to furthering the academically gifted, global players in Main-Taunus-Kreis. There are also tremendous from the “science offensive” to the “musical primary school”, advantages for small and medium-sized companies, not that every child should be given the best education possible and be these have to be any less international. When it comes to paper- able to develop his or her talents. At Graf Stauffenberg High cutting machines, dancing shoes, bottling plants and diamond School in Flörsheim, for example, a genetic laboratory is being set drills, companies in “MTK” are among the world’s best. There is up, and the students at Konrad Adenauer School in Kriftel have no shortage of people who tell you that economically the district their own teaching restaurant. is nothing if not healthy, so it’s hardly surprising that thanks to its low unemployment rate and high purchasing power it regu- So it’s not without reason that, with an average of 1.69 children larly achieves top spots in national rankings. Take for example per household, Main-Taunus-Kreis is clearly above the national the volume of income tax paid. On a nationwide basis, Main-Tau- average of 1.47. In this case, the phrase “family friendly” applies nus-Kreis comes second, behind the neighboring Hochtau- to an entire region, starting with the residential environment all nuskreis, but ahead of Starnberg. And it has done so for years. So the way through to child care, whose rate for under three-year- it was almost logical that the first shopping mall to be built in olds in “MTK” is well above the average for Hessen. Culturally Germany was the recently extended Main-Taunus-Zentrum too, the district has performed well in catching up. From the (MTZ) on the A66 interstate in “MTK”. “Shorts at Moonlight” film festivals in Hofheim and Bad Soden, not to mention the “Gallus Concerts” in Flörsheim, there are fre- Changing the subject, however, it’s not just the strong economic quent series and gatherings of small but exquisite cultural de- situation that makes the district so attractive. Generally speak- lights at ateliers and galleries, for example the “Zauberberg” in ing, you can contemplate the future with amazingly little worry Kompetenzstandort 210x138.qxd:Anz_210x138 13.09.10 15:21 Seite 2 Ruppertshain. \\ Advertisement Looking for a new Site? Service. Excellence. SUCCESSSITE From infrastructure to networks – we can make it happen. Are you looking for a site in the heart of Europe? One with a reliable, efficient infrastructure and a perfect combination of rail, roads and waterways? One with a major airport right "at its doorstep"? One that connects you to a powerful scientific and business network? Welcome to Frankfurt's Industriepark Höchst. Here, Infraserv Höchst makes customers' special requests come true – as individually as possible. Especially for the chemical, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and related process industries. It doesn't matter what services you need from an effective partner for operating advanced infrastructure, or when you need them: For us, service excellence is not just a motto – it's a mission. Please contact us: +49 (0)69 305-46300, [email protected], www.industriepark-hoechst.com/info Utilities Waste Management Real Estate Facilities IT Communications Health Environment Safety Security Operating advanced infrastructure Logistics Education // FRM News NEWS Creative Impulses ADC/picture-alliance: Frank May Cultural and creative industries in FrankfurtRhineMain sector report published Did you know that ... … many visual effects in Hollywood films were created at Pixomondo in Frankfurt? … artworks by artists like Jeff Koons are made by the firm Arnold in Friedrichsdorf? … famous ad themes such as the blue Milka cow were created by Frankfurt-based ad agencies? The cultural and creative industry creates stimuli for new products and processes in other sectors. It is a core sector. And FrankfurtRhineMain is a center of the cultural and creative industry. This is the essence of the current sector report, which the regional association published in early May. Its director Heiko Kasseckert says, “In FrankfurtRhineMain there are more than 82,000 people (who are subject to social insurance contributions) working in the sector.” And this is far off the real figure, as many are self-employed or working as freelancers. There is a focus on the sub-sectors of software/games, design, advertising and broadcasting. In Frankfurt, software/games, advertising and publishing are especially prominent; Offenbach and ADC/picture-alliance: Jan Haas Wiesbaden specialize in design, while Mainz is shaped by broadcasting. As the region’s strengths, the study names its digital infrastructure, position as a transportation hub, marketplace and international networking, creative environment, prestigious universities and institutions, cosmopolitanism mindset and proximity to clients. Creative Get-together Heiko Kasseckert (left) at the 2011 Art Directors Club summit www.region-frankfurt.de Nikolaus Hirsch & Tobias Rehberger Culture Campus Kulturbox A design debut by Nikolaus Hirsch and Tobias Rehberger 34 35 FRM 01 I 11 Decision made on the use of university land in the Frankfurt district of Bockenheim Member institutions of the Forum Kulturcampus Bockenheim 01Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst 02 Ensemble Modern 03 Frankfurt LAB 04Hessische Theaterakademie 05 The Hindemith-Institute 06The Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt 07Junge Deutsche Philharmonie 08Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung 09 The Forsythe Company Frankfurt is taking advantage of the situation. With aid from the state of Hessen, a culture campus is to be constructed on university land in Bockenheim. “In terms of urban development this culture campus represents a unique opportunity to create an attraction with international flair – comparable with the Museumsufer development,” says Mayor Petra Roth. Nine culture institutions, which have since aligned themselves as the “Forum Kulturcampus Bockenheim”, will be located on the site. All are distinguished by their international prestige and large networks. Later this year a “Kulturbox”, which will put the construction plans and proposed development of the campus on public display, is due to be installed there. Nikolaus Hirsch and Tobias Rehberger of the Städel Academy will be responsible for the design. For the After Work Logistics! With useful information and recommendations Excellence > To space and back – twice Thomas Reiter’s new work address is Robert Bosch Neu-Isenburg. He has, however, taken the greatest scenic route Strasse 5, 64293 Darmstadt. It sounds very down to imaginable – via the Russian space station MIR and the interna- earth. Rooted in the ground. In his life to date though, grounded tional space station ISS. is one thing he’s most definitely not been. The astronaut and en- The Frankfurt astronaut Thomas Reiter is the new director of ESA in Darmstadt gineer is now responsible for human spaceflight at the European The 53-year old has spent almost a year of his life in the extrater- Space Agency in Darmstadt. Dubbed “Germany’s Houston”, it restrial. All because of a life-changing experience he had as an coordinates European space travel and promotes research 11-year old child. In the early hours of the morning of July 20, projects about the Earth, sun system and universe. Basically, 1969, the young boy sat mesmerized in front of the TV, watching Thomas Reiter is now back where he came from: in Frank- as Neil Armstrong’s small step became a giant leap for mankind. furtRhineMain, as he was born in Frankfurt and grew up in “Afterwards, of course, I wanted to become an astronaut, just 3 STAR CITY; RUSSIA > Soyuz Return Commander Thomas Reiter steers a Soyuz capsule back to Earth times Thomas Reiter left the space picture-alliance/dpa stations Mir and ISS for “walks” 342 THOMAS REITER STages in his life Frieder Bickle/Laif days Reiter worked on board B space stations Mir and ISS 6 5– 99 5, 1 Since April 2011, Reiter, from Frankfurt, has been responsible for Human Space Flight at the European Space Agency (ESA) 28,000 km/hr is the speed at which the space station orbits the earth I would like Germany to play a greater role within Europe in further exploration of outer space. 36 37 FRM 01 I 11 9 , 19 9 .2 Feb p. Se MIR Darmstadt > THOMAS REITER // N OW D E 19 9 2 OM SC O B ER 7 19 9 NE OG L E O 2 C LOGN 9 19 CO 07 0 2 RG BU N SE U-I E 7N T 97 1 R U D AN L F RA RIT E R E NK AV A M N FRM R 06 CA 8F E 5 20 19 AP 6C T 0 20 TAD S M AR D 11 20 L T IS –9 EV 9J 0 19 9 19 00 20 CITY – 9 R 199 STA 3 LIK 19 9 KA R 6A 9 9 1 R OU N O AIK B 95 ING H NC MA RG E BIB EU 19 N 82 JEVER > FIGHTER BOMBER SQUADRON Thomas Reiter is in command of the 38 “Friesland" Tornado Fighter bomber squadron in Jever JaboG 38 „F“ // // Excellence 18 countries belong to the European Space Agency (ESA) like lots of other boys,” but Reiter held on tightly to his dream. Reiter is one of the few to have been granted the opportunity to After high school, he signed up for the German Air Force, trained behold the globe from the infinite space of the universe. Some peo- as a jet pilot in the USA, and became one of the four astronauts sent ple become philosophers during their time in space, others mystics. to Russia by the ESA to prepare for the MIR mission in 1993. From a Some, following their return from far orbits, have never been the childhood dream to a frontier-crossing adventure. For two years, same again. Reiter, however, still has both feet firmly on the ground. Reiter underwent intense physical and mental training in Star City, The engineer, with the rank of Brigadier-General, is a pragmatist, Russia. His space adventure finally began on September 5, 1995. emphasizing the value of space travel for the development of new Reiter conducted scientific experiments on-board the MIR 40 and technologies. “It’s curiosity that drives us, that thirst for knowl- completed two spacewalks, the first German to do so. Ten years edge.” Thomas Reiter now makes his contribution with his feet back later, Reiter flew to the ISS, staying in space for another 166 days. on Planet Earth. At Robert Bosch Strasse 5 in Darmstadt. Space Station > ISS Thomas Reiter leaves the space station for six hours to conduct necessary maintenance and repairs Rolle REA/Laif (2) 50 satellites have been operated by the European picture-alliance/dpa Space Operations Centre to date 6 00 2, 2 2 ec. D – 06 0 L 2 NA SS 4, O I y I l T Ju NA TION R E A INT E ST AC SP Cape Canaveral > Landing The Space Shuttle STS-116 brings Thomas Reiter safely back to Earth from the ISS space station Cape Canaveral > Take off The only thing I missed in space was the feeling you get when in the outdoors, the smell of flowers and the forest air. I also of course missed speaking to my family. 38 39 FRM 01 I 11 // Getty Images/Mark Wilson Astronaut Thomas Reiter waves a small German flag before taking off for the ISS space station // Events Broadway on Taunusanlage Frankfurt’s English Theatre The theatre’s the place to meet up for the international crowd – and is home to exciting performances By Johannes Göbel and Jonas Ratermann (photos) 40 41 FRM 01 I 11 Excellent attention to detail Managing Director Daniel Nicolai prioritizes quality when choosing actors, plays and directors, as well as in his precision planning of the stage sets (on the l.: a miniature model of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”) 1 50°6'34.56"N 8 °4 0 ' 1 7. 7 6 " E F // Events We produce practically with a balancing act across the Channel: a great opportunity to experience real English theatre. // Daniel Nicolai Managing Director of the English Theatre Coming soon at English Theatre The Dead Guy A multi-media extravaganza by Eric Coble runs through June 24, 2011 A DramaClub production: The Threepenny Opera A musical by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill August 12 – 24, 2011 The Importance of Being Earnest A trivial comedy for serious people by Oscar Wilde Sept. 9 – Oct. 29, 2011 The Who’s Tommy A legendary rock musical by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff Nov. 12, 2011 – Feb. 12, 2012 Theatre work From careful makeup to superb costumes and refined stage technology, everything has to be just right for major shows in the playhouse at Gallusanlage, on the corner of the Kaiserstrasse The Collector A thriller by Mark Healy adapted from a novel by John Fowles Feb. 24 – April 1, 2012 > They’ve had enough! The students simply don’t want to obey any longer. Chairs fly through the air, exercise books get torn up, people get shown the finger. The teacher gets his ass spanked accompanied by guitar riffs and teenagers’ joyful voices. The audience at the English Theatre loves it. “Spring Awakening”, the brash musical version of Frank Wedekind’s eponymous melodrama on puberty, got off to a great start with its German premiere in Frankfurt. An enthusiastic following has blossomed, celebrating the musical even after the last performance – online, in blogs and video sites. The visitor’s book on the theatre’s Website is crammed full of praise. The multilingual spectrum of positive comments ranges from “totally awesome” to “Es war großartig!” The organizers of the largest English-speaking theatre on the Continent have once again landed a real hit with audiences. Well over 60,000 theatregoers attend the performances each season. The team led by Managing Director Daniel Nicolai still has to contend with some prejudices. All the plays in English? It puts some people off. Daniel Nicolai puts a different spin on it, “We’re a really leisurely place of learning,” he says with a wink. “Some people think you have to order beer at the theatre’s bar in English too. But you can get by here just as easily in English and the plays are easily accessible by what you see as much as by what you hear on the stage.” Variety rules here with thrillers and dramas, comedies and musicals. The classics are masterfully presented, as well as experimental theatre, as in the multimedia TV satire “The Dead Guy”, which runs through June 24. “Entertainment with a twist” is how Nicolai describes the product. “Sure, we seek to entertain, but our guests also want to have more than just a pleasant evening out.” The twist is something Nicolai’s team regularly achieves. Take the classic musical “Hair”, performed from its political side, or Rain Man A play by Dan Gordon based on the 1988 film April 20 – June 17, 2012 “The Full Monty” dished up not just as a stripper comedy, but as a piece of British social drama. The www.english-theatre.de The theatre organizers manage to produce all this without a house ensemble or permanent artistic program for the new season (see box) certainly has a lot to offer, from the rock opera “Tommy” through to the stage version of the Oscar-winning movie “Rain Man”. directors. The international team led by managing director Nicolai consists of 23 full-time staff members whose work is supported financially by the Cities of Frankfurt and Eschborn and by Commerzbank, among others. The actors tend to be successfully cast in New York and London, and usually from the rich theatre world of the latter’s West End. There, Stage Manager Maureen Dienst even organizes a trial stage on occasion. Like the top theatres in the US and UK, the English Theatre has no permanent ensemble and instead a team of players is specially assembled for each piece, and 42 43 FRM 01 I 11 // FRM Events Available online, on TV and as a magazine A vibrant playhouse Be it on stage (here: a performance of the mega successful “Spring Awak ening”) or at the premiere party for Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband” www.frankfurt-rhein-main.net under time constraints at that. It’s only ten days between a premiere and when the actors actually The web portal provides access to a new FRM universe – exploratory and innovative arrived in Frankfurt, fine-tuning their performance. “Our productions are a kind of balancing act across the Channel,” comments Nicolai, “A great opportunity to experience real-life English theatre.” The English Theatre is considered the Frankfurt playhouse with the youngest and best-educated www. audience. And it regularly gets offered top-rate theatre productions, be it in the southern mood of Tennessee Williams or the perfect dialogs of Oscar Wilde. “We have a kind of purchasing power in London’s high-end theatre world,” says Daniel Nicolai, “as just a few actors are regularly employed in the West End. We’re an interesting option for many actors as we offer something they don’t get in London.” Print issue In fact, the theatre is often a launch pad for career successes elsewhere, for actors who might sud- denly find themselves playing in “Les Misérables” in the West End, and for directors who are cur- The magazine on the metropolitan region delivers stories from the region – packed with information facts rently all the international rage. In Germany, the company is the English-language venue, puling crowds in from well beyond the region. “Spring Awakening” even attracted 130 students from Düsseldorf’s International School. Such examples show not only the edge the city offers, but also the success of all the effort put into the educational side of the project, with Deutsche Bank as the exclusive sponsor. Around 1,100 English teachers are invited to previews of each play free of charge. The theatre also offers workshops and provides teaching materials. In the “DramaClub”, adults and students regularly practice performing the plays and in August they’ll be performing a version of Brecht’s “Threepenny Opera”. rhein-main-TV The theatre is far more than just a meeting point for fans of acting and theatregoers. It’s a place for everyone who likes an evening in English, as in the case of the “International Jour Fixe”, which helps new arrivals to the region get settled in, or at any of the numerous parties held in the elegant in-house “James Bar”, where there’s also a live TV feed for things such as the Eurovision Song The regional channel reports live on events and trends – presenting things hands-on, as they are Contest or the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. There are also poetry slams, English-language readings and exciting photo exhibitions – on August 18, works by star photographer Steve McCurry will be on show. The “cultural lighthouse”, the label the Hessen State Government has given the institution, thus gleams in many different colors. Perhaps it will also light up things on the other side of the Channel. “We would like to present our performances in Great Britain, too, one day,” comments Daniel Nicolai. Then the Brits could see just what the theatre company in Frankfurt RhineMain has achieved. 44 45 FRM 01 I 11 \\ All over the world FrankfurtRhineMain is synonymous with internationality, dynamic drive and change. So what makes FrankfurtRhineMain so special? "FRM" presents new ideas, casts a fresh light on what’s familiar, and focuses readers’ attention to details well worth exploring. // Excursions GARdEN RHINeMAIN Great panorama By BEATE TAUDTE-REPP Simon Koy The palace park in Bad Homburg is one of the region’s garden treasures In summer, FrankfurtRhineMain truly blossoms From the tranquil monastery gardens to the simple spa parks: Anyone seeking beauty and leisurely calm will find a paradise in the region’s garden 46 47 FRM 01 I 11 // Excursions Alzenau-Wasserlos Palace park Aschaffenburg Altstadt cemetery Park Schönbusch Park Schöntal Palace gardens > Whether a breathtaking castle park or a secluded manor garden, a shady arboretum or a swift bike ride through the forests and fields, with its superb transport links, Frank- furtRhineMain has a marvelous and diverse range of gardens to offer. Well over a hundred islands Bad Homburg v.d. Höhe Forstgarten Spa garden Landgräve’s gardens Orangery in the palace park Palace park Bad Nauheim Art Nouveau ornamental courtyards Spa garden Bad Soden am Taunus Spa garden Bad Vilbel Spa garden of nature can be found between the Spessart and the Rhine, the Taunus and the Odenwald. This heartland totals over 5,000 hectares of greenery, and there are countless plants to be discovered, just as the “Frankfurt colonial domain” and the “arcadia of Aschaffenburg” wait to be enjoyed. Although it may sound strange, a quick look through the “Pinien, Palmen, Pomeranzen – Fremde Welt in heimischen Gärten” booklet explains more. Under the heading “Garden RhineMain”, the section of Kultur-Region GmbH proudly details over 600 guided tours, lectures, special days and festivals that will take place through the end of the year in the region’s gardens. Often, the focus is on a passion for plants and botany, business prowess and scientific ambition – and of course the Bensheim-Auerbach Fürstenlager national park Bingen am Rhein Grounds of the State Horticultural Show magic of foreign flora. Green paths: Where better to foster wellness, to which health is now referred, than outdoors in nature, even if it has for centuries been designed by man. The many branches of the green path run- Büdingen Garten Kölsch Darmstadt Botanical Gardens of the Technical University Herrngarten Mathildenhöhe Orangeriegarten Park Rosenhöhe Prinz Emil Garten Prinz Georg Garten Palace gardens and deer park Kranichstein hunting lodge Waldfriedhof ning through the region include not only the Regional Park project, set to boast 1,200 kilometers of bike and hiking paths, or the 333 allotment garden complexes that have arisen since the 19th century thanks to the ideas of Leipzig doctor Daniel G.M. Schreber which argued that health could be promoted through gardening and as a way for people to sustain themselves. Expansive cemeteries such as those in Wiesbaden, Mainz or Frankfurt with their grand old trees also provide invaluable ecological oases for flora and fauna, as well as those who enjoy a walk. The “people’s parks”, garden cities and playgrounds created in the 20th century were consciously established to facilitate local recreation. As Dieburg Palace gardens Dreieichenhain Hayn Castle in Dreieich Eppstein Bergpark Villa Anna Altangarten Burg long ago as Roman times, people relied on the curative properties of the spas in the Taunus, whose heyday began in the 18th century. In many towns, spas sprang up with superb parklands that to this Eltville Gardens and open spaces Eberbach monastery Flörsheim-Bad Weilbach Former spa garden Florstadt-Staden Palace park worldwide thanks to the exploits of famous guests. For example, in Wiesbaden, Fjodor Dostoyevsky almost gambled away everything he owned – and came away with the basis for his novel “The Gambler”. In Bad Homburg, English and Russian aristocrats rubbed shoulders, strolling around the 44 hectares of the spa’s park. Laid out according to plans by Prussian landscape gardener Peter Joseph picture-alliance/dpa very day are a paradise for those escaping the hustle and bustle of city life. Some became renowned Lenné, the Bad Homburg Spa Park was one of the most beautiful English gardens in Germany. In to- Frankfurt am Main Former airfield Bonames Bethmann Park Bolongaro-Garten Höchst Bonifatiuspark am Riedberg University Botanical Gardens Brentanopark Chinese Gardens Grüneburgpark Green belt Günthersburgpark Main Cemetery Holzhausenpark Frankfurt/Main Huthpark Korean Gardens Lohrpark “MainÄppelHaus Lohrberg” “Nizza” Ostpark Palmengarten Peterskirchhof Poelzig Park University Rebstock Park, extension Römerstadt, Green planning Rothschildpark Volkspark Niddatal Former city fortifications day’s wellness age, imaginative Asian therapies are all the rage. But as far back as 1910, King Chulalongkorn of Siam thanked his hosts for the successful therapy he had undergone in the Taunus with the “Thai Sala” fountain temple, which remains one of the garden kingdom’s landmarks even today. Southern flair: Nice, that city of flowers on the Côte d’Azur, was the symbol of northern yearnings in the 19th century. At the time, Mediterranean flora could be seen closer to home, however. The rather mild microclimate of the River Main’s banks enabled the region to have two historical southern worlds: “My Bavarian Nice” is what King Ludwig I of Bavaria called Aschaffenburg, which had an ancient villa built in 1850 on a prominent position above the banks of the Main only a few steps from Renaissance Castle Johannisburg. The Pompeiianum, as it’s called, even boasts fig trees, vineyards and pines, a Mediterranean world en miniature. Anyone today wandering around the Perfectly idyll KulturRegion FrankfurtRheinMain GmbH Along with the FrankfurtRhineMain regional asso ciation, 31 local communities and cities in the states of Hessen, Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate have joined forces to offer the 3.5 million people in the gre ater region “sophisticated cultural events” under the motto “the best is at your fingertips”. Among the six project groups such as “Route der Industriekul tur” (Route of industrial culture), “Burgen, Schlösser und Paläste” (Lodges, castles and palaces) and “Wege der Kultur” (Cultural paths), “Garten Rhein Main” (Garden RhineMain) by Heidrun Merk is one of the most successful. www.krfrm.de, www.gartenrheinmain.de Places with exotic flora 02 Schloss Weilburg Orangery Boasting two magnificent orangeries, Weilburg castle is one of the most fully preserved resi dences of Absolutism located high above the River Lahn. The summer attraction is the exten sive collection of citrus plants which adorn the terraced gardens. www.schloesser-hessen.de 03 Orangeriegarten Darmstadt Established in the 18th century by the landgrave Ernst Ludwig, the gardens, complete with Baro que orangery and a quaint plant tower, boast many Mediterranean plants such as palm trees, myrtles, oleander, bay trees, bitter orange trees, lemon trees and fig trees. www.darmstadt.de 01 P almengarten Frankfurt Established in 1868, the show garden combines botany and education, culture and leisure acti vities across 22 hectares. Exotic highlights in lush abundance include the Palmenhaus, Tropi carium and a fascinating hill of succulent plants exuding summertime flair. 48 49 FRM 01 I 11 Simon Koy Finding your way around green labyrinths and enjoying Mediterra nean views picture-alliance/dpa Beautiful moments www.palmengarten-frankfurt.de 04 B ad Homburg palace park, Seligenstadt monastery gardens Both gardens possess beautiful historical oran geries, used to protect sensitive citrus plants in the harsh winter months. Each summer they can be admired in the outdoor grounds again. www.schloesser-hessen.de The spa park in Wiesbade, a paradise for strolling // Excursions Landscape design at its purest Henry Nees picture-alliance/dpa The Schönbusch landscaped gardens (Aschaffenburg) and the palace gardens in Weilburg (right) are well worth a visit Friedberg Burggarten Groß Karben Palace park Hanau Alte Fasanerie Klein-Auheim François Gärten Historical cemeteries Kinzigaue Orangery Philippsruhe castle Altstadt palace gardens Philippsruhe palace park Wilhelmsbad state park Hattersheim am Main Historischer Bürgergarten Nassauer Hof Heusenstamm Palace park Königstein-Falkenstein Park Kempinski Hotel Park Villa Rothschild picture-alliance/dpa Kronberg im Taunus Gardens and yew groves at Kronberg castle Castel Park Friedrichshof Quellenpark Kronthal Viktoriapark Lorsch Medicinal herb garden in the monastery Main-Taunus Arboretum Mainz University Botanical Garden Main Cemetry Natural Science Garden Lindenmühle City Garden Botany for all The Botanical Gardens offer a nature experience of a special kind Spa gardens well worth visiting 01 Bad Nauheim spa garden The town of thermal springs and flowers attracts visitors not only with its rose museum and rose gardens, but also with its spa garden. Tip: The Art Nouveau ornamental courtyards of the foun tain buildings, where architecture and southern flora come together in perfect harmony. Beautiful landscaped gardens 01 Alte Fasanerie Klein-Auheim In 1967, the two former electoral pheasant runs were combined to form a 100-hectare wooded deer park in the state of Hessen. On the quiet nature trails, 35 species of wildlife wait to be discovered. www.erlebnis-wildpark.de www.bad-nauheim.de 02 Bad Vilbel spa garden A lush green belt, the park, with its precious exotic woods of cork and yellow wood trees, ad orns the town of thermal springs and festivals. The mosaic of an ancient Roman public bath has been beautifully restored. www.kultur-bad-vilbel.de 03 Hanau Wilhelmsbad State Park The town was never a spa because the Sauer brunnen discovered in 1709 was found to have no therapeutic effects. To make up for this, the buil dings and park turned out all the more beautiful. www.schloesser-hessen.de 02 Wiesbaden-Biebrich Palace Park In the 19th century, Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell transformed the former Baroque pleasure gar den in the Principality of Nassau into a romantic, 35-hectare landscaped park. www.hi.hessen.de 03 Schönbusch Aschaffenburg The 168-hectare landscaped park complete with romantic lake, panoramic tower, castle, maze, boat rental and restaurants is one of the earliest English gardens in southern Germany. The legendary view from Schönbusch to Aschaffen burg castle is especially breathtaking. www.schloesser-bayern.de Miltenberg Stadtpark Nidda-Bad Salzhausen Spa garden Offenbach Old cemetery Dreieichpark Grünring Leonhard-Eißnert-Park Lilipark / Büsingpark Rumpenheim palace park Rüsselsheim Verna-Park Schlüchtern-Ramholz Palace park Seligenstadt Monastery gardens Orangery Wasserburg Klein-Welzheim Usingen Palace park Weilburg Castle orangeries Palace gardens Wiesbaden Old Cemetry Spa Park North Cemetry Russian Cemetry Castle Park Biebrich Animal and Plant Park Pheasantry „Warmer Damm“ City Palace Winter Gardens carefully restored gardens among agaves and fragrant angels trumpets, beneath a pergola of glycinias and the patio with its red angels trumpets may well think they’re in a country where lemon trees really do grow. But lemon trees do flourish in the picturesque company of pines, olives, laurels, eucalyptus and pomegranate trees in the grounds of Frankfurt’s “Nizza” further downstream. This Garden of Eden on the lower banks between the Untermainbrücke and the Holbeinsteg bridge was created in 1875. Since its marvelous restoration in 2005, the grounds have been considered the subtropical gardens with the greatest variety of flora north of the Alps. Landscaped countryside: The hillside park of Villa Anna in Eppstein is a little wild, even if a group of patrons has had the brush cleared around most of the 200 old trees like the 40-meter-high giant sequoias with trunks as thick as barrels. For decades, these botanical treasures had become completely overgrown and good as forgotten. It was Herbert Picard, former director of the Municipal Archive, who a few years ago discovered the enchanted forest that the Neufville Frankfurt banking family had planted around their summerhouse in 1875. While most landscaped gardens like the Mainz Stadtpark, Darmstadt’s Herrngarten or the park at Schloss Philippsruhe in Hanau tend to be flat, and the green paradises of the Taunus lie on undulating hills, the climb from the bottom of the gardens on the steep flanks of Eppstein’s Jähenberg to the top means an ascent of 100 meters. Since 2003, what were once the Neufvilles’ grounds are now listed, with a 2.5-kilometer long path offering marvelous views of the castle and town of Eppstein. A flyer available at the entrance gives an overview of its trees, highly exotic and rare when the gardens were created: Douglas firs, Weymouth firs, Caucasian spruces, Greek pines, Paulownia Tomentosa and Amelanchier. The buildings in the Romantic manor-house style such as Villa Anna and the Schweizer and Kavaliershaus have been used by the Frankfurter Jugendhilfe since 1981. Botany for everybody: There’s no need to fear botany, the science of the origins of plants, of how they live and their taxonomy. Anyone who wishes to find out about a particular plant in the garden will find a wealth of knowledge in the region’s three botanical gardens with their systematic presentations and the botany lecture programs they offer. An event in Darmstadt’s Hortus Botanicus centers on the immense range of foreign plants that have been in monastery, apothecary and aristocratic gardens since the age of discovery. The institution’s director Stefan Schneckenburger will be talking on August 28 about “Colonialism and Botany”, where he’ll discuss the collectors and plant hunters who traveled the world to bring together the “green gold” which laid the foundations for famous European gardens. In Darmstadt it was Carl Albert Purpus. Over a century ago, he traveled America and Mexico as a plant hunter, sending the newly discovered plants among others to his brother Joseph Anton. The latter had stayed at home in Darmstadt as the garden’s superintendent, which meant he was very grateful for every package of botanical delights he received. Today, many of the exotic plants of that era are to be admired in the gardens, including a fourmeter high yucca rostrata. Since 1874, the teaching gardens attached to the Darmstadt Technical University have been an idyllic, lush oasis close to the Lichtwiese Campus. Here, some 8,000 different plant types can be studied – the outdoor area is 4.5 hectares in size, while various species are cultivated under glass. Botany for everyone! 50 51 FRM 01 I 11 \\ Excellence Jonas Ratermann // 1 50°8'28.50"N 8°39'33.98"E F Almost 50 years of Formula 1 Rainer W. Schlegelmilch’s archive allows for interesting comparisons: race preparations and pit stops 2007 1971 The eye of Formula 1 > 1970 Rainer W. Schlegelmilch doesn’t need a diary. Bernie Slung across the back of the chair in his studio in Frankfurt’s Ecclestone sets all the dates for him. As soon as the Dornbusch district is the photographer’s bib he wore over the race schedule for the Formula 1 season has been fixed, Schlegel weekend in Australia. Behind him is an enormous shelf unit milch is busy packing his suitcase. Arrival on Thursday, first train crammed with folders holding race negatives. On the opposite ing session on Friday, qualifying on Saturday, race on Sunday, re wall is an exposure table next to a humming drum scanner. Rainer W. Schlegelmilch turn flight on Sunday evening. 20 times a year from Bahrain to Schlegelmilch has thousands of shots that he still wants to digi Brazil. Yet he follows the racing world not as a technician or engi tize, a very time consuming project between races. “My pension neer, but as a photographer. Rainer W. Schlegelmilch is “the eye of scheme,” he says with a smile, as many of his historical 1960s Start and finish at Dornbusch. The Frankfurt photographer has been documenting the Grand Prix for almost 50 years Formula 1”. His enormous archive holds just under half a million black and white shots are real treasures. by Martin Orth 52 53 F R M 0 1 I 1 1 photographs. He takes between 3,000 and 5,000 pictures on any race day. Usually, two thirds of these are deleted before his plane Each picture has its own story to tell and for each story Rainer W. touches down at Frankfurt Airport. No one knows better than he Schlegelmilch has a matching picture. He points at a photo show what’s important in racing photography. His “eye” is incredibly ing Jacky Ickx, one of the greats in the 1970s. “Jacky lives in sharp. His interest is quality. On the Tuesday following the Grand Monte Carlo now and we have considered ourselves friends for a Prix, the top 250 shots can be viewed on his website. long time.” Indeed, as a photographer Schlegelmilch knows all Rainer W. Schlegelmilch (4) 2008 // Excellence 1966 2008 Comparing race cars Ferraris from the past and the present no longer have any thing in common – above all owing to the aerodynamics He succeeded in capturing the Golden Age of Formula 1 in a way that is both elegant and descriptive. Jackie Stewart // Racing legend Life in step with Formula 1 2005 Rainer W. Schlegelmilch in his Frankfurt studio – surrounded by over 400,000 photographs www.schlegelmilch.com 1966 Jonas Ratermann (4) 54 55 1965 F R M 0 1 I 1 1 Rainer W. Schlegelmilch (6) 2007 Comparing races At the start on the Nürburg ring, four racing cars are lined up – and men in hats. Today, the race cars are staggered at the start // Excellence 2005 1963 Comparing drivers Nick Heidfeld (r.) is jittery before the start, while Innes Ireland in the Lotus is as relaxed as if he were taking a trip to the countryside Despite all the competition there is human companionship in the Formula 1 family. Rainer W. Schlegelmilch // Race photographer 2010 the cars and all the drivers. He has photographed them all – from made his way to the heartland of advertising, Frankfurt, where Jim Clark to Sebastian Vettel. He is particularly proud of a dedi he went to school as a boy. He began working for the industry cation that triple world champion Jackie Stewart wrote for one of and agencies, living life alongside Formula 1 ever since. his books: “Schlegelmilch is one of the best known people in the business and is highly regarded.” The ultimate accolade. Today, his archive enables extraordinary comparisons. His docu mentation of all the cars that have raced in the Monaco Grand Prix 1969 Rainer W. Schlegelmilch (6) 2007 Comparing rituals Champagne spraying has remained the same, something that cannot be said of the female fans in Monte Carlo (l.) and Hockenheim 1963 56 57 F R M 0 1 I 1 1 And of course he is also the most senior photographer in For since 1975 is a masterpiece. Schlegelmilch took all the shots at the mula 1, one of the outstanding chroniclers in motor sport. His same bend, always from the same perspective. “It’s a very accurate career began almost 50 years ago when, in 1962, a friend took reflection of how things have changed over the years,” he says. The him along to the 1000-km race at Nürburgring. In those days, spot between Loews and Portier where Schlegelmilch takes his the drivers inside the cockpit were men aged between 30 and photographs has come to be dubbed “the Schlegelmilch bend” by their late 40s, driving their laps around the track while wearing insiders. His motion shots are another specialty. At each Grand Prix motorcycle goggles and an unfastened helmet. Schlegelmilch training session he takes close up long exposure shots of the drivers, was in the process of completing his degree in photography in “I let the guys whiz past me and only try to get a sharp picture of Munich, when he became infected with the racing bug. So he their helmet; the rest is simply a colorful blur of speed.” \\ Preview Issue 02 Discover our vision as your future. Roman Bezjak/sanofi-aventis Fall 2011 The knowledge region For a long time FrankfurtRhineMain was considered the “world’s pharmacy”. Now the pharmaceutical industry is reinventing once again. Editorial News // Well done to Hösbach! In the New ideas experimentation // The INNovaTIoN RegIoN last issue of FRM in the arti- hanns-seidelGymnasium cle “The Innovation Region”, where new ideas are created Whether in school laboratories, seminar rooms or research departments, intensive and successful experiments are being researched and developed throughout the knowledge region of FrankfurtRhineMain. we reported on the Hanns > Seidel Mainland-Churfranken e. V./Tom River Bavaria’s Lower Main region mixes quality of life, high-tech, cultural, wealth and innovation – far away from the hustle and bustle of the city but well connected nonetheless. near Aschaffenburg which has 10 11 Regional portrait Gymnasium participated in the Jugend forscht (Youth researches) competitions for years with great success. Now the students under teacher Roland Full have landed another coup. Gabriel Salg (16) and Nicolas Scheidig (16) came out as the winners in the Bavarian competition. They showed that the food additive cyclodextrin can help reduce bad breath considerably. Their chemistry teacher Full had a feeling that this could “turn into something big” and thus got into contact with the TU Darmstadt. Now there’s scientific evidence. The students, along with their teacher, are also very optimistic about their chances at the national competition in Kiel. Congratulations are also due to product designer Sebastian Herkner, 29, whom we introduced as Post scriptum FRM IN literature a young talent in the article // Business “Offenbach – Fertile Soil for Ideas” (FRM 2009). Herkner won the Newcomer Award of Presenting two strong voices from Frank- the Design Award of the Fed- furtRhineMain: Those convinced that grad- eral Republic of Germany in uates in German Studies are not actually February 2011 FERTILE SOIL FOR IDEAS OFFENBACH The former working city is emerging as a creative center on the banks of the River Main. Old factories and warehouses are becoming chic lofts and workshops where ideas are born. 20 21 good writers need to have a rethink. These two are very talented – and luckily they didn’t pursue careers in science, but in literature. “Das Zimmer” (The room) by AnAndreas Maier: Das Zimmer, Suhrkamp, € 17,90 dreas Maier is a modern regional novel set in the Wetterau region – as his novels tend to be. It tells of the life of “Uncle J.”, who in his mind has always remained a child, and his Volkswagen Type 3, which he loves to take for a drive through the rapeseed fields. Maier’s narrative is colored with dry humor 58 59 Publisher Publisher FRM – The magazine on the FrankfurtRhineMain metropolitan region is published by FrankfurtRheinMain GmbH International Marketing of the Region in cooperation with Societäts-Medien, Frankfurt/Main. For FrankfurtRheinMain GmbH: Dr. Hartmut Schwesinger Publishing House Frankfurter Societäts-Medien GmbH, tel.: +49 69 75 01-0, Managing Director: Hans Homrighausen Address of the Publisher and Editorial Office Frankenallee 71–81, 60327 Frankfurt/Main. This is also the service address for all responsible parties and authorized persons named in the imprint and perhaps that’s precisely what makes Editorial Office Editor-in-Chief: Peter Hintereder, Martin Orth (CvD), Janet Schayan, Julia Söhngen, Ute Süßbrich (Pocket Guide) Tel.: +49 69 75 01-43 52, fax +49 69 75 01-43 61 the novel so touching. In “Shanghai Per- Art Direction Dunja Metz, Stefanie Schwary formance”, Silke Scheuermann, from Of- Production Sandra Opper fenbach, takes us from the art business in Distribution Klaus Hofmann, tel. +49 69 75 01-42 74, fax +49 69 75 01-45 02 Frankfurt to China. With a matter-of-fact Silke Scheuermann: Shanghai Performance, Schöffling & Co., € 19,95 IMPRINT ing less than art and love – and the lives of Notes FRM – The magazine on the FrankfurtRhineMain metropolitan region is published twice yearly. Articles by named contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial office. Reprints only with the publisher’s authorization. Printed in Germany, Copyright © by Frankfurter Societäts-Medien GmbH 2011. The magazine is printed on eco-friendly paper that has been produced with chlorinefree bleached pulp. three women in the here and now. Cover-page image Michael Hudler voice, subtle irony and a gripping style, the 38-year-old writer tells a story about noth- FRM 01 I 11 FrankfurtRheinMain GmbH I International Marketing of the Region When it comes to meeting your needs as an investor, our secret to success lies in thinking ahead. Whether it’s easy access to expert networks, an optimal infrastructure or superb personnel that make your business happen: in FrankfurtRheinMain, you’ll find everything you need to reach for the stars – including the perfect launch pad for all your future endeavours. Discover how to make the most of your business. Join the network of FrankfurtRheinMain. For more information go to www.frm-united.com Visit our region online at www.frankfurt-rhein-main.net consell.de // ZUSAMMEN GEHT MEHR. Mit vereinten Kräften arbeiten wir für ein Ziel: Ihren Erfolg. Dafür setzen wir uns als Spitzeninstitut gemeinsam mit über 1.000 Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken in der genossenschaftlichen FinanzGruppe ein. Denn zusammen geht mehr. www.dzbank.de