our quarters,--the old town (Altstadt) and its suburban
extensions (Vorstadt) being on the right bank of the river, and the new
town (Neustadt) with its southern suburb (Sudervorstadt) on the left
bank. The river is crossed by three bridges, the old, the new
(1872-1875) Kaiserbrucke, and the railway bridge, with a gangway for
foot passengers. The ramparts of the old town have long been converted
into beautiful promenades and gardens, the moats forming a chain of
lakes.

The romantic old town, with its winding streets and lanes, flanked by
massive gabled houses, dates from the medieval days of Hanseatic
prosperity. On the market square stands the fine town hall (Rathaus),
dating from the 15th century, with a handsome Renaissance _facade_ of a
somewhat later date, and before it a stone statue of Roland, the emblem
of civic power. Its celebrated underground wine cellar has been
immortalized by Wilhelm Hauff in his _Phantasien im Bremer Ratskeller_.
The town hall is internally richly embellished and has a gallery of
interesting paintings. In an upper hall a model of an old Hanseatic
frigate, with the device _Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse_,
hangs from the ceiling. Among other ancient buildings, situated chiefly
in the old town, are the following:--the cathedral of St Peter (formerly
the archiepiscopal and now the Lutheran parish church), erected in the
12th century on the site of Charlemagne's wooden church, and famous for
its Bleikeller, or lead vault, in which bodies can be preserved for a
long time without suffering decomposition; the church of St Ansgarius,
built about 1243, with a spire 400 ft. high; the church of Our Lady,
dating from the 12th and 13th centuries; the 12th century Romanesque
church of St Stephen; the Schutting, or merchants' hall, originally
built in 1619 for the cloth-traders' gild; the Stadthaus (town house),
formerly the archiepiscopal palace, and converted to its present uses
only in 1819. The most important and imposing among the more modern
architectural additions to the city are the handsome Gothic exchange,
completed in 1867, the municipal theatre, the municipal library, the
post office (1878), the law courts (1891-1895), the wool exchange, the
German bank, the municipal museum for natural science, ethnology and
commerce, and the fine railway station (1888). The principal memorials
embrace, besides the Roland, the Willehad fountain (1883), the monument
of the Franco-German War (er