During the latter part of the time when the house was being rebuilt, Goethe and his sister were sent to live with relatives, and it was during this period that he began to have some knowledge of his native place. As the town in which the Emperors were elected and crowned, Frankfort held a position of high honour among the free imperial cities of Germany. Within its old walls and gates it still retained, in its architecture and customs, many traces of the troubled, picturesque life of the Middle Ages. Even in childhood Goethe delighted to walk about its quaint streets, and afterwards he made himself familiar with every link that was known to connect the town with the events of past times. He liked to see the gilt weathercock on the bridge of the Main gleam in the sunshine, and to watch the arrival of boats laden with goods for the market. On market-days there was always a bustling, lively crowd on the space around St. Bartholomew’s church, and Goethe found it a source of endless amusement to push his way among the throng and to note the odd humours of buyers and sellers. In later years he had an especially vivid recollection of the spring and autumn fairs, when the town was full of visitors, and serious business was associated with all sorts of noisy popular entertainments. The council-house, then, as now, called the Römer, had a strong fascination for Goethe. He never forgot his first visit to the imperial hall in this famous building, where the emperors dined on the occasion of the coronation festival. Here he saw half-length portraits of many of the old emperors, and what he heard about them set his imagination at work to call up graphic pictures of the great events of Germany’s stirring, splendid history. He examined with keen interest the Golden Bull of Charles IV., and this naturally led to his visiting the grave of Günther of Schwarzburg, Charles’s rival, in St. Bartholomew’s church. Growing up amid such scenes and associations, Goethe naturally acquired a decided taste for the study of history and antiquities.