Speyer / Augusta Nementum

The baptismal font now in use in the baptiestery [Taufkapelle] is modern, but there are two older objects of interest in this church: 1) a font or well-head located in the main nave of the crypt, opposite the altar there; the object is quatrefoil-shaped with angles or spurs between the lobes; it stands directly on the ground [cf. Index entry for Wiessembourg, in Alsace, for a similar object, though of larger dimensions -- 2)"A huge stone basin, with a capacity of 1560 litres, stands on the square in front of the main portal of the cathedral. This font one symbolized the borderline of immunity between the diocese and the city." [text source: www.speyer.de/de/tourist/sehenswert/dom Das Internet Portal für Speyer] [NB: according to several sources, among them the Eyewitness Travel Guide to Germany, this 'font', which stands out the Platz for dem Domhauptportal, dates from 1490 and stood empty except after each annointing a new bishop, at which time it was filled to the brim with wine for the people of Speyer at large]