175th Anniversary of the Paulskirche Constitution

A perspective view of the Paulskirche as the deputies of the constitutional National Assembly file in. In the background, the constitutional document with a quill pen — the work of the Frankfurt Parliament. Above it, the three female allegories of Unity, Justice and Freedom, along with the German tricolour black, red and gold. Along the image edge: the occasion 'PAULSKIRCHENVERFASSUNG 1849'. Below to the right: the year '2024' and the interlocking initials 'BB' of the designer. Below to the left: the country code 'D' and the mint mark ('A', 'D', 'F', 'G' or 'J').

As the first all-German national assembly, the Frankfurt Paulskirche Parliament convened in May 1848, marking a turning point in European constitutional history. The delegates drafted the Paulskirche Constitution of 1849, a document groundbreaking for its time: it enshrined fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, assembly, and religion, designed a parliamentary system of government, and for the first time articulated the demand for a German nation-state founded on democratic principles. Although the constitution did not take effect at the time — Prussia and Austria refused their consent — it left a political legacy that fed directly into later constitutional works, including the Weimar Constitution of 1919 and the Basic Law of 1949.

The Paulskirche in Frankfurt am Main remains, to this day, a central site of remembrance in German democratic history. Around 800 elected delegates from the German individual states gathered there, among them jurists, professors, and liberals from the movement of 1848. The building, originally a Lutheran church, became a national symbolic site after its reconstruction following the Second World War: since 1948 the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade has been awarded there, and significant state ceremonies have taken place within its walls. With its 2024 2-euro commemorative coin, Germany marks the 175th anniversary of the Paulskirche Constitution and, with it, the beginning of modern German parliamentarism.