In the middle of the marketplace stands a column called the " Heunensäule ." Erected there in 1975 to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the building of Mainz Cathedral, it was a column that had been quarried but never used by the original builders. Around the base of the column are four bronze headpieces, each a symbol of Mainz's history: a bishop's mitre, for the Archbishop of Mainz's role as head of the German Church and one of seven electors of the Holy Roman Emperor; a gladiator's helmet, representing Mainz's Roman history; a jester's hat, to show Mainz's place as a carnival city; and, finally, an imperial crown (pictured, right) . The crown is recognizable to students of German history as the Rheichskrone , an octagonal crown studded with jewels and topped by a cross. The crown was created in the early years of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE), probaby the 10th or 11th century. It has been passed down, emperor to emperor ever since , and it can still...
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