Goetheplatz is located in the middle of Frankfurt’s city centre and owes its name to the prominent Goethe statue in its centre. This monument was designed by Ludwig Schwanthaler and erected in 1844. Goetheplatz was originally smaller than it is today and, like the adjacent Rathenauplatz to the north, was part of the Roßmarkt, which dates back to the Middle Ages. On the eastern edge are the so-called New Houses – terraced houses that the Frankfurt Council had built in 1666 to drive out the flying sales stalls for pottery from the Kannenbäckerland and Franconia. The only relic of the former trading place today is the narrow Töpfengasse between Steinweg and Roßmarkt.
