page_title: Imperial Palace of Goslar
section_title: So-called Cathedral Porch
hierarchical_section_title: Imperial Palace of Goslar / Individual buildings in the palace district / Collegiate Church of St. Simon and St. Jude / So-called Cathedral Porch
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Domvorhalle des ehemaligen Goslaer Doms, dessen Umriss nur noch auf dem Parkplatz erkennbar ist. English: Collegiate Church Vestibule in Goslar, Germany
context_page_description: The Imperial Palace of Goslar is a historical building complex at the foot of the Rammelsberg hill in the south of the town of Goslar north of the Harz mountains, central Germany. It covers an area of about 340 by 180 metres. The palace grounds originally included the Kaiserhaus, the old collegiate church of St. Simon and St. Jude, the palace chapel of St. Ulrich and the Church of Our Lady. The Kaiserhaus, which has been extensively restored in the late 19th century, was a favourite imperial residence, especially for the Salian emperors. As early as the 11th century, the buildings of the imperial palace had already so impressed the chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld that he described it as the "most famous residence in the empire". Since 1992, the palace site, together with the Goslar's Old Town and the Rammelsberg has been a UNESCO world heritage site.
context_section_description: Around 1150 a porch was added in front of the north portal of the church, which remains the only part of the church preserved to this day. The former north door of the cathedral is now the back wall of the porch. The front of the lobby is decorated with two rows of niches with plaster sculptures that were originally coloured. The top row portrays Madonna with child in the middle, surrounded on both sides by chandeliers and angels, the original figures of angels having been lost and replaced by paintings. The bottom row shows, from left to right, Emperor Henry III, the patron saint of the cathedral, Simon, Matthew and Jude, as well as another, not clearly identifiable, imperial figure.
  In this hall today is a replica of the imperial throne (Kaiserstuhl), which was originally in the church. The original is in the vaults of the palace. The bronze side arms and backrest, which are ornamented with tendrils, date to the second half of the 11th century, whilst the sandstone plinths surrounding the actual seat are somewhat more recent. They are decorated by Romanesque animal figures and legendary creatures. The imperial throne was probably used by Henry IV. Apart from the throne of Charlemagne in Aachen, it is the only surviving throne of a Holy Roman emperor from the Middle Ages. It was purchased in the 1840s by Prince Charles of Prussia and placed in the medieval-style monastery (Klosterhof) of Glienicke Palace in Potsdam. It subsequently came into the possession of the Hohenzollerns and was used as the imperial chair for Emperor William I at the opening of the first meeting of the new German Reichstag on 21 March 1871.
caption: Cathedral Porch
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