Aachen Cathedral (Aachener Dom) description and photos - Germany: Aachen (Topic)

Aachen Cathedral (Aachener Dom) description and photos - Germany: Aachen. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Aachener Dom.

Photo and Description

Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor and King of the Franks, passed away in 814. A few years before his death, Karl ordered his friend, adviser and biographer Eingard to build a magnificent palace with a chapel. Eingard chose the architect Odo of Metz to implement this plan, and already in 805 the chapel was consecrated. It was there that Charlemagne was buried, and there is a reliquary with his relics to this day.

The chapel, simple in plan, is a high octahedral hall with a lower hexahedron. The arches are lined with alternating stripes of multi-colored stone. The walls of the chapel were decorated with ancient mosaics and ended with a simple conical roof. In the 17th century it was replaced by a high dome with a lantern. A wrought iron chandelier in the shape of a crown hangs from the ceiling donated to the cathedral by Frederick Barbarossa. And in the treasury museum at the cathedral there is a medieval cast statue of the Virgin Mary of extraordinary beauty.

The palace chapel received the status of a cathedral in the 9th century. It went down in history as the place where German kings were crowned. The chapel has preserved a large throne, according to legend, which belonged to Charlemagne himself. In the 11th century, Emperor Henry II presented the cathedral with a bronze pulpit inlaid with ivory.

Aachen Cathedral does not have a cruciform or basilica plan, which is traditional for Romanesque architecture. The chapel is its core. In the 14th century, a Gothic choir with an altar was built to the east of the chapel. Thirteen huge 25-meter high choir windows, separated by slender buttresses, occupy most of the wall and illuminate the cathedral. They contrast with the chapel's small round windows. Subsequently, other chapels appeared, of various styles and sizes. The steep slopes of the roof of the choir, built in the XIV century, and the dome of the XVII century, crowning the chapel, are clearly visible. The pyramidal spire, which is significantly different in style, was built later.

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Topic: Aachen Cathedral (Aachener Dom) description and photos - Germany: Aachen.