latest and most notable pure Gothic works in Germany (1415-1509). Its
architect was John of Ettingen, and it rises to a height of one hundred
and sixty-three feet.

[Illustration: FRANKFORT CATHEDRAL]

The facade of the cathedral is entirely lacking in a decorative sense,
and the lateral portal, on the south, is much encumbered by surrounding
structures, though one sees peeping out here and there evidences of a
series of finely sculptured figures.

Above the entrance to the cloister is an equestrian statue of St.
Bartholomew, a masterwork of sixteenth-century German sculpture. The
skull of the apostle is preserved in the church proper.

The general plan of the church is that of a Greek cross, but the
termination which holds the choir is of much narrower dimensions than
the other three arms.

The grand nave offers nothing of remark, but the side aisle to the right
contains a fine "Ecce Homo" in bas-relief, placed upon the tomb of the
Consul Hirde, who died in 1518. Unfortunately the heads of many of the
figures, including that of the Christ, are badly scarred and broken.

In the right transept are a series of very ancient German paintings and
a number of escutcheons, coloured and in high relief, commemorating
benefactors of the church.

The walls in the choir are covered with ancient frescoes of the frankly
German school. They undoubtedly date back to the fifteenth century, at
least.

At the right of the choir is the tomb of the Emperor Gunther of
Schwarzburg, who died here in 1349.

Above the high altar is a fine tabernacle,--a feature frequently seen in
German churches,--of silver-gilt. To the left is an ancient iron grille
of remarkable workmanship.

At the head of the left aisle of the nave is a chapel containing a
"Virgin at the Tomb," a coloured sculpture of the fifteenth century,
surmounted by a very ornate Gothic _baldaquin_.

In the left transept is the tomb of a knight of Sachsenhausen bearing
the date of 1371. Here, too, is a somewhat dismantled and fragmentary
astronomical clock of the species best seen at Strasburg.

The Protestant church of St. Nicholas is a fine ogival edifice, which in
more recent times was profaned by commercial uses. It has since been
restored and its red sandstone fabric is surmounted by a fine spire.

The interior shows a remarkably fine ogival choir as its chief feature,
an organ-buffet carried out in the same style, which is most unusual,
and a charming wooden stairc