Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) - A four-day festival is to accompany the 175th anniversary of the first German National Assembly in Frankfurt's Paulskirche in 2023. Two million euros are available for the Paulskirchen Festival, as Mayor Peter Feldmann (SPD) reported on Tuesday in Frankfurt. That roughly corresponds to the costs for the 25th anniversary of German unity in 2015 or for the inauguration of the new old town. "Democracy is worth it to us," said Feldmann.
The first German national assembly met in the Paulskirche in 1848 and passed the first democratic constitution in 1849. Since then, the Paulskirche has been considered the cradle of German democracy.
The Paulskirchenfest in the city center is scheduled to take place from May 18th to 12th. The managing director of Tourismus Congress GmbH, Thomas Feda, is expecting around 350,000 guests over four days. A "Week of Democracy" is planned from May 12 to 17, 2023. It is not yet certain who will come to the central political ceremony on May 18 - but Feldmann is counting on the Federal President.
Almost all museums and venues want to take up the topic as early as this autumn. A total of 3.5 million euros are available for this in the years 2022 to 2024. A "democracy laboratory", a "pop-up archive", routes of democracy, a youth parliament and a "production with a participatory approach" called "An Ode to Democracy" are planned on and on the Main.
