Aachen Cathedral

Aachen Cathedral

    King Charlemagne (Karl der Grosse in German),  was the first Holy Roman Emperor. In 786 AD he began the construction of his Palatine Chapel (palace chapel). The Palatine Chapel was designed by Odo of Metz, he based his work on the Byzantine church of San Vitale (completed 547 AD) in Ravenna, Italy. This basis gives the Chapel a very eastern feel, with its octagonal shape, striped arches, marble floor, golden mosaics, and ambulatory. After 19 years the Palatine Chapel was consecrated in 805 to serve as the imperial church.
    Charlemagne collected relics throughout his life, which he kept in Aachen Cathedral. Today items he collected still remain in the cathedral, such as; the cloak of the Blessed Virgin, the swaddling-clothes of the infant Jesus, the loin-cloth worn by Christ on the Cross, and the cloth on which lay the head of St. John the Baptist after his beheading.
    During the Middle Ages, the relics attracted swarms of pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Hungary, England, Sweden, and other countries. This onslaught of people created the tradition of showing the four “Great Relics” only every seven years in the 14th century.  This tradition is still practiced, the next viewing will be in 2014.
    Charlemagne died in 814 and was buried in the chapel’s choir. Though, in 1000 AD, Emperor Otto III reopened Charlemagne’s vault. They say his body was remarkable preserved, “seated on a marble throne, dressed in imperial robes, with his crown on his head, the Gospels lying open in his lap, and his scepter in his hand,” (google). 
    In 1168, Emperor Fredrick Barbarossa provided a bronze chandelier to hang over the shrine, it still hangs today. A golden shrine was placed beneath the chandelier in the middle of the octagon and Charlemagne’s bones placed within it.
    Several smaller chapels and vestibule were added to the Palatine Chapel, to manage the increasing pilgrims, in the 15th century. The enlarged Chapel was now known as Aachen Cathedral , also known as Kaiserdom “Imperial Cathedral” of Aachen.
    Aachen Cathedral suffered minor damage through the two World Wars and in 1978 it was the first German site to be added into the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Recently, two decades of restoration work was completed in 2006.