ally of wood instead of stone, but it
must be remembered that the Germans were ever great wood-workers.

The pulpits of Freiburg and Strasburg are thoroughly representative of
the best work of this kind. They may be said, moreover, to be of the
Gothic species only, whereas similar works elsewhere are most frequently
of the Renaissance period.

In no other European country are the altars so rich in detail, the
sacristies so full to overflowing with jewelled and precious metal cups,
vases, and chalices, or the crucifixes, triptychs, and candlesticks so
sumptuous.

In the cathedral at Aix-la-Chapelle the congregation seats itself upon
chairs; but most frequently in Germany one finds sturdy, though movable,
oaken benches.

Of the carved choir-stalls, those at St. Gereon's at Cologne are the
most nearly perfect of their kind on the Rhine; those at Mayence, while
elaborately produced, being of a classic order which is manifestly pagan
and out of keeping in a Christian church.

German churches in general made much of the cloister, though not all of
the examples that formerly existed have come down to us undisturbed or
even in fragmentary condition. But, in spite of the Protestant
succession to many of the noble minsters, many of these cloisters have
endured in a fair state of preservation. Attached to the western end of
St. Maria in Capitola at Cologne is an admirable example, while the
Romanesque types at Bonn, at the abbey of Laach, and at Essen are truly
beautiful. Examples of the later pure Gothic construction are those at
Aix-la-Chapelle and Treves.

[Illustration: _Chandelier, Aix-la-Chapelle_]

But little exterior sculpture has been preserved in all its originality
in the Rhenish provinces, revolutionary fury and its aftermath having
accounted for its disappearance or mutilation. In the Cistercian church
at the abbey of Altenburg, there is a plentiful display of foliaged
ornament, and there are the noble statues in the choir of the cathedral
at Cologne. Mayence has a series of monuments to the bishop-nobles
attached to the piers of the nave, and in the Liebfrau Kirche at Treves
and the cathedral at Strasburg are seen the best and most numerous
features of this nature.

One of the most unusual of mediaeval church furnishings, a sort of
chandelier, is seen both at Aix-la-Chapelle and Hildesheim. In each
instance it is a vast hoop-like pendant which bears the definition of
_coronae lucis_. Others are found elsewh