+HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT.+ The so-called +Golden Portal+ of +Freiburg+ in the Erzgebirge is perhaps the first distinctively Gothic work in Germany, dating from 1190. From that time on, Gothic details appeared with increasing frequency, especially in the Rhine provinces, as shown in many transitional structures. +Gelnhausen+ and Aschaffenburg are early 13th-century examples; pointed arches and vaults appear in the Apostles’ and St. Martin’s churches at Cologne; and the great church of +St. Peter and St. Paul+ at Neuweiler in Alsace has an almost purely Gothic nave of the same period. The churches of +Bamberg+, +Fritzlar+, and +Naumburg+, and in Westphalia those of +Münster+ and +Osnabrück+, are important examples of the transition. The French influence, especially the Burgundian, appears as early as 1212 in the cathedral of Magdeburg, imitating the choir of Soissons, and in the structural design of the Liebfrauenkirche at Treves as already mentioned; it reached complete ascendancy in Alsace at +Strasburg+ (nave 1240-75), in Baden at +Freiburg+ (nave 1270) and in Prussia at +Cologne+ (1248-1320). Strasburg Cathedral is especially remarkable for its façade, the work of Erwin von Steinbach and his sons (1277-1346), designed after French models, and its north spire, built in the fifteenth century. Cologne Cathedral, begun in 1248 by _Gerhard of Riel_ in imitation of the newly completed choir of Amiens, was continued by Master _Arnold_ and his son _John_, and the choir was consecrated in 1322. The nave and W. front were built during the first half of the 14th century, though the towers were not completed till 1883. In spite of its vast size and slow construction, it is in style the most uniform of all great Gothic cathedrals, as it is the most lofty (excepting the choir of Beauvais) and the largest excepting Milan and Seville. Unfortunately its details, though pure and correct, are singularly dry and mechanical, while its very uniformity deprives it of the picturesque and varied charm which results from a mixture of styles recording the labors of successive generations. The same criticism may be raised against the late cathedral of +Ulm+ (choir, 1377-1449; nave, 1477; Fig. 143). The Cologne influence is observable in the widely separated cathedrals of Utrecht in the Netherlands, Metz in the W., Minden and +Halberstadt+ (begun 1250; mainly built after 1327) in Saxony, and in the S. in the church of +St. Catherine+ at Oppenheim. To the E. and S., in the cathedrals of +Prague+ (Bohemia) by _Matthew of Arras_ (1344-52) and +Ratisbon+ (or Regensburg, 1275) the French influence predominates, at least in the details and construction. The last-named is one of the most dignified and beautiful of German Gothic churches--German in plan, French in execution. The French influence also manifests itself in the details of many of the peculiarly German churches with aisles of equal height (see p. 240). [Illustration: FIG. 143.--PLAN OF ULM CATHEDRAL.]