The Cathedral Museum, Frankfurt am Main

The Cathedral Museum was established in the medieval cloisters of the Cathedral ofSt. Bartholomew and opened in 1987. The Museum gives the visitor an insight into the history of the Cathedral, recording, for instance, its designation as the venue for the election of German kings and emperors through the Golden Bull of 1356, and their coronation here as from 1562. Both events had a decisive influence on the history, architecture and interior design oft he edifice.

The Cathedral is a house of prayer and liturgy, and the museum also displays the liturgical vestments and ritual Utensils ofthe Roman Catholic Church over the centuries. These objects have, in all eras, provided faith and liturgy with both visual form and aesthetic expression.

Among the Museum's outstanding exhibits are the artides found, during restoration work 1991-94, in the grave ofa Merovingian girl dating from the 7th Century (l). The site of the grave is marked by a floor slab just inside the iron grid as you enter the Cathedral nave. The grave relics can be seen in the the Museum's first showcase: a number ofsmall pots, jars, fragments and other objects, but also a gold chain, golden ear-rings, a golden disc clasp or fibula and three gold rings.

Most of the Museum's exhibits come from the Cathedral's rieh treasure house and consist of liturgical vestments used in the Services of the Catholic Church, together with gold and silver altar Utensils and reliquaries from the 14th to the 20th centuries.