The Frauentorgraben with buildings of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum

The museum has been in existence since 1852, and is made up of buildings from different eras. This photograph shows an intermediate phase in its expansion. In 1886 the "South Building," designed by August von Essenwein, had been added to the older building called the "Augustinerbau." We can see the tower-like housing of a circular staircase, surrounded with open tracery galleries, between the two larger buildings.