View of the Rathaus and Choir of St. Sebald

This photograph documents the complex of the choir of St. Sebald and the splendid Rathaus façade after its reconstruction. A tower of the Imperial Castle is visible in the background. When the city welcomed the Emperor, this was where the ruler appeared in public. The façade originally included the imperial balcony, but this was deliberately omitted from the rebuilt design, as the intent was to avoid any historicizing reconstructions that might seem a falsification of history. Nevertheless, the Rathaus bears witness to the imperial era, because the building lay along the "Via Triumphalis" – the way along which every emperor was expected to process when visiting Nuremberg, terminating with the ruler's arrival at the Castle.