Frankfurt, Germany

The fourth stop of our Western Europe trip (Part 1): Today we arrived at the beautiful Rhine River in Germany, accompanying the Piazza del Popolo in Frankfurt. Piazza del Popolo is a square in Rome, Italy. This square is a huge oval-shaped square, close to the Borghese Park. The iconic building of this square is an ancient Egyptian obelisk. North of the Roman People's Square is the Porta del Popolo, which means "People's Gate". It is the starting point of the Via Flaminia. Since the completion of the Via Flaminia in 220 AD, this road has connected Rome and the Adriatic Coast. Many tourists enter Rome through this square. In 1589, Pope Sixtus V placed the Egyptian obelisk in the center of the square, which is 23.2 meters high. This obelisk was erected by ancient Rome at that time to commemorate the conquest of Egypt. In 1815, Giuseppe Valadier added walls on both sides of the square, and also added a central fountain in the center of the square, as well as four Egyptian lion sculptures next to the obelisk. Sixteen lion-headed sculptures were added to the walls, which have special artistic value. At the southern end of the People's Square, there are two symmetrical and unique churches: on the right is the Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, and on the left is the Church of Santa Maria in Montesanto. These two churches were built in 1658 by Pope Alexander VII, and the design master was Carlo Rainaldi (May 4, 1611 - February 8, 1691), an Italian architect of the Baroque period.