[Illustration: 760. St. Severus Church at Erfurt. (From Puttrich, ‘Denkmäler.’)] To the same class of square churches with slightly projecting chancels belongs the Frauen Kirche at Nuremberg, one of the most ornate of its kind, and possessing also in its triangularly formed porch another peculiarity found only in Germany. The principal entrances to the cathedrals of Ratisbon and Erfurt are of this description—the latter being the richest and boldest porch of the kind. One of the best known examples of the daring degree of attenuation to which the Germans delighted to carry their works is the choir (Woodcut No. 724) added in 1353 and 1413 to the old circular church of Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle. As we now see it, the effect is certainly unpleasing; but if these tall windows were filled with painted glass, and the walls and vaults coloured also, the effect would be widely different. Perhaps it might then be even called beautiful; but with scarcely a single exception all those churches are now deprived of this most indispensable part of their architecture, and, instead of being the principal part of the design, the windows are now only long slits in the masonry, giving an appearance of weakness without adding to the beauty or richness of the ornament. The same remarks apply to the Nicholai Kirche at Zerbst, and the Petri Kirche at Gorlitz, both splendid specimens of this late exaggerated class of German art. By colour they might be restored, but as seen now in the full glare of the cold daylight they want almost every requisite of true art, and neither their size nor their constructive skill suffices to redeem them from the reproach. CHAPTER VI. CONTENTS. Circular Churches—Church Furniture—Civil Architecture. CIRCULAR CHURCHES. IN adopting the pointed style, the Germans almost wholly abandoned their old favourite circular form; the Liebfrauen Church at Trèves (Woodcut No. 695) being almost the only really important example of a church in the style approaching to a rotunda. Chapter-houses are as rare in Germany as in France, and those that are found are not generally circular in either country. There is a baptistery attached to the cathedral at Meissen, and one or two other insignificant examples elsewhere; but the most pleasing object of this class is the Anna Chapel, attached to the principal church at Heiligenstadt. It is said that it always was dedicated to the sainted mother of the Virgin, but it would require more than tradition to prove that it was not originally designed as a baptistery or a tomb-house. Be this as it may, it is one of the most pleasing specimens of its class anywhere to be found, and so elegant as to make us regret the rarity of such structures. [Illustration: 761. Anna Chapel at Heiligenstadt. (From Puttrich, ‘Denkmäler.’)] CHURCH FURNITURE.