Adams Gate of the Bamberg Cathedral. (b/w photo)

Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany The Adams Gate on the west choir of the Bamberg Cathedral. The zigzag frieze indicates that Norman artists worked here. On both sides of the gate small stone pedestals are visible, on which previously six figures stood. The carvings are of Emperor Henry and Kunigunde, the saints Stephan and Petrus as well as Adam and Eve, both of who are represented in the nude, a novelty in church construction of the time. The name Adams Gate probably came from an earlier penance ritual, in which on Ash Wednesday the penitents were forced out of the church, as Adam was once forced out of Paradise. Moreover, the Adams Gate was also an earlier court facility where the cathedral deacon dispensed justice.