In the crypt, already mentioned, are the bones of the martyrs, Cassius, Florentinus, and Malusius.
The chief interest of the interior, outside of the constructive elements of the fabric, centres in a great statue of St. Hélène in bronze, which is placed in the middle of the grand nave. It is a fine monument, and was cast in the seventeenth century as a somewhat tardy recognition of the founder of the church at Bonn.
At the western extremity of the nave is the Gothic tomb of Archbishop Englebert, and another of Archbishop Robert.
The choir is somewhat raised above the pavement of the nave, being placed upon the vaulting of the crypt. The walls of the choir[{223}] are hung with gilded Cordovan leather, which is certainly rich and beautiful, though it has been criticized as being more suitable to a boudoir than a great church.
At the foot of the choir, to the right, is a tabernacle, a feature frequently met with in German churches. It is of Renaissance design and workmanship, and is ungainly and not in the best of taste.
Behind the great pillars of the choir are found, back to back, two imposing altars, to which access is had by mounting a dozen more steps, far above the pavement of the nave. They are most peculiarly disposed, and are again a Renaissance interpolation which might well have been omitted.
In this dimly lighted cathedral, as well as in many other churches of Germany, you may at times hear that hymn known as "Ratisbon," the words of which begin:
"Jesus meine Zuversicht
Lebt, und ich soll mit ihm leben."
There is a legend—or it may be a true tale—connecting these verses with a German soldier who died at the fateful battle of Jena.
Fleeing from the French, he had fallen into[{224}] the waters of the Saale. Recovering himself, he crawled out, only to find his pursuers on the bank, their firearms levelled at his head. His first thought was to thank God for his safety from the flood, and, kneeling, he played upon his bugle the familiar air to which the hymn, "Jesus meine Zuversicht," is sung. Deeply moved, his pursuers dropped their guns, but, just as the last notes of the tune were dying away, another detachment came up, and one of its members fired a shot which ended the life of the devout Prussian.