Frankfurt Art Museums, Frankfurt, Germany (A)

Giersch opened its doors in 2000 and is dedicated to exhibiting art from the region. Among regional notables are Hanna Bekker vom Rath, patron, collector and talented artist in her own right, whose "Blue House" outside Frankfurt in Hofheim was the nucleus for a group of influential Expressionist painters prior to World War II. Another well known center for Expressionism was the Mathildenhoehe, a hilltop artists colony in nearby Darmstadt. Most of the four museum floors are given over to temporary exhibitions. The cherry picker's tip is the permanent collection of 18th and 19th Century landscapes of Frankfurt, found on the ground floor. This provides a rare opportunity to see what the city looked like before the medieval fortifications were torn down. Hours are; closed Mondays; Tuesday - Thursday, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday - Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Liebighaus takes on the daunting task of tracing 5,000 years of sculpture from ancient Egypt through the Neo-Classic era in the 18th and 19th centuries. For stroll that is five-millenium long, the exhibition area is fairly compact. An English-language broschure with map is available. The cherry picker's tips are the Renaissance 'studioli' rooms and Baroque 'bozzetto' study, which display not only the art but they way it was exhibited in those periods. The courtyard cafe is quiet and shady. Opening hours are; Tuesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Staedel, with a collection of 2,700 paintings and 600 sculptures, is the main city art museum. Its roots go back to 1815 and a generous donation by banker Johann Friedrich Staedel. At the time of this writing, the museum is nearing the end of an extensive 45-million-euro renovation. During construction, exhibitions continued in a wing of the museum behind the main building. The renovated and expanded portions of the museum will begin reopening Oct. 7, with an exhibition of the works of German painter Max Beckmann. Opening hours; Tuesday, Friday - Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

This compact museum traces the development of the mails and telephone system from the 1700s to present day, with a strong emphasis on art. The museum foundation owns collection of more than 250 paintings with emphasis on post-war art. It includes works by Salvador Dali, and Max Ernst. Only some works are on display, but the combination of art with more traditional postal fare in this airy, modern museum provides an off-beat look at the world of communication. Cherry pickers at this museum may want to view the Enigma coding machines used by the German military in World War II, which are in the downstairs exhibition area. Another stop is a video screen showing famous Hollywood actors and their sometimes not so memorable lines spoken into a telephone. It’s the sequencing that makes it work, and the language is English. Opening hours; Tuesday - Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Weekends and holidays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

This art museum doesn't have a permanent collection. What it has been doing since it opened in 1986 is special exhibitions. Sometimes a couple are run simultaneously. With 21,500 square feet of exhibition space, there is plenty of room. The gallery is located next to the main cathedral in the heart of the old city. Oversize posters on the outside walls advertise the current exhibit. They're hard to miss. If you want to check in advance whether there is an exhibition, the Schirn program is available on an English-language website: www.schirn.de/en.html Opening hours; Tuesday, Friday - Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

If you like the impossible architecture of M.C. Escher, the Museum for Modern Art (MMK) is worth a visit just to see the building. The interior stairways seem to occupy different planes within the all-white interior and there are ramps to interior windows designed for no other reason than to offer a new vantage point to view the interior. Paintings on display at MMK date from the 1960s to the present and include works of Claes Oldenburg and Roy Lichtenstein. The cherry pickers tip is to find a seat in one of the triangular rooms on the corners of the building and look out at the city through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Opening hours; Tuesday - Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Portikus is a small gallery devoted to modern art, generally artists who are not well known. A sample of recent exhibits include works by the American Dan Graham, the Chinese artist Chu Yung and Sergej Jensen, a Danish artist who lives in Berlin. Portikus is located on an island in the Main river, which has been its home since 2006. If you want to check whether there is an ongoing exhibition, the gallery is closed between exhibitions, or want to see what is on display, go to English-language website: http://www.portikus.de/19.html?&L=1 and click on ‘Chronological.' Portikus hours are Tuesday - Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.