The election of a Holy Roman Emperor in Frankfurt am Main

Since I got a couple days off work, it was time to visit another interesting city. Plenty of options but we decided on Frankfurt am Main, just a 4h drive from Bruxelles(long live europe). The interesting thing about Frankfurt is the essential role it played during the election of a new Holy Roman Emperor.

View of the river Mainz with the Dreikönigskirche in the background

We started off by visiting the Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew. This Cathedral was the site where the electors voted on their new emperor. They would assemble under the presidency of the archbishop of Mainz, in a small chapel "Wahlkapelle" inside the Cathedral.

Initially there were 7 electors but 2 more were added in time:
1)The Prince-Archbishop of Mainz
2)The Prince-Archbishop of Cologne
3)The Prince-Archbishop  of Trier
4)The King of Bohemia
5)The Margrave of Brandenburg
6)The Duke of Saxony
7)The Count of Palatine of the Rhine
8)The Duke of Bavaria was added in 1623
9)The Duke of Brunswick-Lüneberg was added in 1692
Here the electors were to vote on the candidate of their choosing with Mainz having the right of the last vote. Once chosen the new Emperor and the Electors would issue a proclamation in the Cathedral. The emperor would be crowned in the following days.

 In 1562 the place of coronation was changed from Aachen to Frankfurt with Maximilian II being the first emperor to be crowned in Frankfurt. The Habsburgers were breaking with tradition and were leaving the medieval legacy of Charlemagne behind.
After the coronation the Emperor would greet his subjects from the balcony of the Römer, Frankfurt's town hall and the coronation feast could begin.

Eastern facade of the Römer

Today you can visit the town hall, however it was the Kaisersaal that really got my attention. When standing before the Römer enter the building by its left side. Here you can buy tickets for 2 euro from a ticket-machine. Go up the spiral staircase and enter the Kaisersaal, here you will find a portrait painting from each elected Emperor starting from Konrad I (911-918) till the last emperor Franz II (1792-1806). We did visit many other things in Frankfurt, however in my opinion the Cathedral & the Römer were by far to most noteworthy.

The Kaisersaal