Book Panel and City Tour: "Verfassungsorte / Constitutional Places"

What can we learn about constitutionalism’s precarious present from a consideration of the places of its past? This is the urgent and timely question posed by the recently published Bildband (coffee table book) entitled ‘Verfassungsorte / Constitutional Places’ (Kunth Verlag 2025). The book was co-authored by the former Head of Max Planck Law, American-based law professor Russell Miller, along with Markus Lang and Kai-Michael Sprenger of the Stiftung Orte der deutschen Demokratiegeschichte (Foundation for the Places of German Democratic History). The project features the elegant and iconic photography of Alexander Telesniuk. Through concise texts and compelling imagery, the book documents more than 25 locations in Germany at which, for over 500 years, constitutional principles have been debated, drafted, deployed, defeated, and defended.

MPI-FRANKFURT invite you to join us on 1 October 2025 for a lively and informal introduction to the book ‘Constitutional Places’, and the themes it engages at the interdisciplinary intersection of law, history, and architecture. The programme will feature a panel discussion and a light lunch, followed by a one-of-a-kind tour of three Frankfurt am Main sites featured in the book: the Kaiserdom, the Paulskirche, and the IG Farben Building. The programme will end with a reception at the Kämmerei-Building in the Frankfurt Rathaus complex.