Amazing Aachen, Capital of Charlemagne
Our next stop was a brief train ride from Cologne to Aachen, capital of Charlemagne, King of the Franks (from the year 768)) and crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by the Pope Leo III on the Christmas Day Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, in the year 800. He was the first to rule the so-called Holy Roman Empire, which survived through the 18th century, ending with Napoleon in the early 19th century.
Photo one: larger than life size bust of Charlemagne, on view in the Cathedral Treasury of Aachen, along with many other amazing religious and liturgical artifacts.
Photo two: the interior of Charlemagne’s church, built from 793 to 803. It is an octagonal church modeled on the church at Ravenna and churches in the Byzantine empire. It is quite beautiful, although we learned on our guided tour that all of the marble facing is only 150 years old, as are the mosaic ceilings. The original of the latter were removed in the Baroque period.
Photo three: the throne of Charlemagne, in the center of the balcony of his church, with a perfect view of the altar. Thirty emperors (including Charles V crowned at age 19 in 1520 and who had to deal with the “Protestant problem” for his whole reign) were crowned in this church dedicated to Mary Mother of our Lord.
Photo four: a side view of the cathedral at Aachen. The center dome church was built by Charlemagne in the early 9th century. To the left is the Gothic period “choir” section, added in the 14th c. To the right is the west front and tower added in the 19th century.
Photo five, taken on what was the main Medieval marketplatz. Imagine you are me shooting this photo of the cathedral. Now do a 180 degree turn, and you’ll see photo six, the Rathaus, aka, government building.
Photo seven is the opposite side of the rathaus with a Neptune fountain in the foreground. If you Zoom in on the photo you will see statues of the 30 guys crowned as head of the Holy Roman Empire in the Aachen cathedral. If anyone can find info on who’s who in the this Muppet Show opening number of kings, please check which guy is Charles V (to whom the Augsburg Confession was presented in 1530) and send me his location.
It was an AWESOME visit. We stayed one night in a lovely little apartment near the train station; having arrived hours before we could check into the apartment, we were delighted with the luggage lockers at the train station, big enough to hold our bags while we visited the church and treasury.
