Frankfurt, Germany

Frankfurt am Main sits on the Main River with roughly 760,000 residents and serves as Germany's financial capital, hosting the European Central Bank since 1998 alongside about 150 international banks. Twelve skyscrapers over 100 meters rise above a skyline first documented in 1240, earning the city the nickname Mainhattan. The 1914 University of Frankfurt houses the Adorno and the Frankfurt School of critical theory, while the Alte Oper concert hall, opened in 1880, survived World War II and reopened in 1981. The Römerberg town hall, dated 1405, is where Holy Roman Emperors were elected, and Goethe was born here in 1749, with his 1748 family home now a museum.