The choir was added in 1506-1509 and the whole church thoroughly restored in the second half of the 18th century, when the tower was built (1770). Of the Protestant churches the oldest is the Nikolaikirche, which dates from the 13th century; the fine cast-iron spire erected in 1843 had to be taken down in 1901. The Paulskirche, the principal Evangelical (Lutheran) church, built between 1786 and 1833, is a red sandstone edifice of no architectural pretensions, but interesting as the seat of the national parliament of 1848-1849. The Katharinenkirche, built 1678-1681 on the site of an older building, is famous in Frankfort history as the place where the first Protestant sermon was preached in 1522. Among the more noteworthy of the newer Protestant churches are the Peterskirche (1892-1895) in the North German Renaissance style, with a tower 256 ft. high, standing north from the Zeil, the Christuskirche (1883) and the Lutherkirche (1889-1893). An English church, in Early English Gothic style, situated adjacent to the Bockenheimer Landstrasse, was completed and consecrated in 1906. Of the five synagogues, the chief (or Hauptsynagoge), lying in the Boernestrasse, is an attractive building of red sandstone in the Moorish-Byzantine style. _Public Buildings._--Of the secular buildings in Frankfort, the Roemer, for almost five hundred years the Rathaus (town hall) of the city, is of prime historical interest. It lies on the Roemerberg, a square flanked by curious medieval houses. It is first mentioned in 1322, was bought with the adjacent hostelry in 1405 by the city and rearranged as a town hall, and has since, from time to time, been enlarged by the purchase of adjoining patrician houses, forming a complex of buildings of various styles and dates surmounted by a clock tower. The facade was rebuilt (1896-1898) in late Gothic style. It was here, in the Wahlzimmer (or election-chamber) that the electors or their plenipotentiaries chose the German kings, and here in the Kaisersaal (emperors' hall) that the coronation festival was held, at which the new king or emperor dined with the electors after having shown himself from the balcony to the people. The Kaisersaal retained its antique appearance until 1843, when, as also again in 1904, it was restored and redecorated; it is now furnished with a series of modern paintings representing the German kings and Roman emperors from Charlemagne to Francis II., in all fifty-two, and a statue of the first German emperor, William I. New municipal buildings adjoining the "Roemer" on the north side were erected in 1900-1903 in German Renaissance style, with a handsome tower 220 ft. high; beneath it is a public wine-cellar, and on the first storey a grand municipal hall. The palace of the princes of Thurn and Taxis in the Eschenheimer Gasse was built (1732-1741) from the designs of Robert de Cotte, chief architect to Louis XIV. of France. From 1806 to 1810 it was the residence of Karl von Dalberg, prince-primate of the