The Mathildenhöhe Institute is a centre that aims to promote contemporary art and culture in the city of Darmstadt. It organises major exhibitions and maintains cultural exchanges throughout the world.

The Institute's headquarters are located in the old Hochzeitsturm, or Wedding Tower, an impressive monument designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich that was inaugurated in 1908. It was built to commemorate the second marriage of the Grand Duke of Hesse Ernst Ludwig and Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, which took place on 2 February 1905. Olbrich wanted the tower to be the crowning work of the urbanisation of the Darmstadt artists' colony, with an emblematic building on the highest part of the hill. His tower would, therefore, become an element with which the city could be identified.

The lower section of the tower has white walls with simple red tile decoration. But the red brick tower itself, crowned by five curved spires covered with tiles, stands out powerfully over the rest of the complex. Its interior is divided into seven levels and it contains major art works, such as two mosaics by F. W. Kleubens and some frescos by Ph. O. Schäfer.