The whole of the south side of
this plateau is taken up by the "Palast" (the vast hall, two stories
high, which, tho it has been repeatedly rebuilt, may in its original
structure be traced back as far as the twelfth century), and the
"Kemnate" or dwelling-rooms which seem to have been without any means of
defense. This plateau, like the second, is supplied with a well. But the
first object that strikes the eye on entering the court-yard is the
ruined limetree, the branches of which once spread their broad and
verdant shelter over the whole extent of the quadrangle.
On leaving the Castle we find ourselves in the Burgstrasse, called in
the old days Unter der Veste, which was probably the High Street of the
old town. Off both sides of this street and of the Bergstrasse ran
narrow crooked little alleys lined with wooden houses of which time and
fire have left scarcely any trace. As you wander round the city tracing
the line of the old walls, you are struck by the general air of
splendor. Most of the houses are large and of a massive style of
architecture, adorned with fanciful gables and bearing the impress of
the period when every inhabitant was a merchant, and every merchant was
lodged like a king. The houses of the merchant princes, richly carved
both inside and out, tell of the wealth and splendor of Nuremberg in her
proudest days.
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