Palais Thurn und Taxis

The Palais Thurn und Taxis (German: [paˈleː ˈtuːɐ̯n ʊnt ˈtaksɪs]) in Frankfurt, Germany was built from 1731 to 1739 by Robert de Cotte commissioned by the Prince Reichserbgeneralpostmeisters (English: Imperial Hereditary General Postmaster) Anselm Franz von Thurn und Taxis (1714–1739).

The building was heavily damaged in World War Two and then demolished. Today a reconstruction houses some shops.

The palace has a very checkered history: 1748 it was the seat of the Imperial Headquarters of Thurn and Taxis post, from 1805 to 1813 the residence of the Prince Primate and the Grand Duke of Frankfurt, Karl Theodor von Dalberg. After the restoration of the Free City of Frankfurt here was held the Bundestag from 1816 to 1866, the Federal Assembly of the German Confederation.

In 1895 Prince Albert I von Thurn und Taxis sold the Palais to the Imperial Post, after he had to spend the interior in his St. Emmeram Castle in Regensburg, where it is today. In 1905 the city of Frankfurt took over the palace and sent to one in 1908 the Museum of Ethnology for the collections of the African explorer Leo Frobenius.