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Aachen, Germany: Aachen Cathedral with Palatine Chapel photo by CE photo

Top 10 Remarquable Facts about UNESCO World Heritage Aachen Cathedral

 Aachen Cathedral has been a roman catholic church in Aachen, Germany. It has also been the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen. The Catholic Church which has been one of the oldest cathedrals in Europe.

Aachen Cathedral which was constructed by the order of Emperor Charlemagne. He has been buried there since 814.It has been one of the first 12 items that have been listed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites. This is has result of its exceptional artistry, architecture and central importance in the history of the Holy Roman Empire.

Here are the Top 10 Remarquable facts about the UNESCO World Heritage Cathedral;

1.The UNESCO World Heritage Aachen Cathedral uses two distinct architectural styles

The building uses several types of architecture. The choir which has been built in a Gothic style. And the core of the building which is a chapel built in a Carolingian –Romanesque style. There are small parts that use an Ottonian style including the area around the throne.

2. It was the first German Cultural Monument  to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage site list

cathedral in Aachen photo by Leon petrosyan

The Aachen Cathedral which has been the very first site to be granted the UNESCO World Heritage status in Germany. It had a good reason for that. And this is because It had been built in around 790 to 800. 

The cathedral has been world importance n terms of the history of art and architecture. It is also the examples of church architecture. And the final reason is that it has been the resting place of Charlemagne. It was also where the German Emperors have been crowned for 600 years.

3. Aachen Cathedral is more than 1000 years 

It has been one of the oldest cathedrals in Europe. Cathedral which was constructed by the order of Emperor Charlemagne. He was buried in Aachen 814.  Charlemagne who had began the construction of the Palatine chapel around t796.

The construction which was credited to Odo of Metz. Though the exact date of completion has been unclear. The church has been the mother church of the Diocese of Aachen since 1930

4. The construction of Aachen Cathedral took 10 years to be built

Aachener Dom photo by Leonhard Lenz

Aachen Cathedral construction of this palatine chapel took10 years. With its octagonal Basilica and Cupola had began 790-800. It was under the Emperor Charlemagne.

Aachen cathedral had been originally inspired by the churches of the Eastern part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was splendidly enlarged in the middle Ages.

5. Aachen Cathedral houses a collection  of Medieval art objects 

It has been housing a collections of Medieval arts object from the late classical, Carolingian, ottonian and Staufian periods, They have been exceptional in their artistic and religious meaning.  Including the shrines of Charles, the Aachen Throne and the Barbarossa Chandelier.

6. The Aachen Chapel  was the church of coronation for 30 German Kings and 12 Queens

Visitors can view the marble throne on which has 32 Holy Roman Emperors  were coronated between 936 and 1531. The throne which is simple consisting of four ancient marble slabs . These  held together by Bronze clamps.

For 600 years  from 963 to 1531 the Aachen Chapel has been the church of coronation for 30 German Kings and 12 queens. It had been dedicated to the virgin. The chapel which was nearing the completion in 798. This was according to a letter of Alcuin

7. Aachen Cathedral which acted  as a burial site

When Charlemagne died in 814 he was buried in a vault in the cathedral. In 1000 Otto III had Charlemagne ‘s vault opened. Otto Lomello who was one of the courtiers who accompanied  him . He recorded the event,

A large picture representing Otto and his nobles gazing on the dead, Emperor who was painted on the wall of the great room in the Town Hall. In 1165 Emperor Fredrick Barbarossa opened the vault. And placed the remains in a sculptured sarcophagus which was made of Parian marble. The bones lay in this until 1215.

There is another Imperial tomb , the grave of Emperor III, under the floor in the center of the choir. It has been marked with a simple inscribed slab. Hanging from the vault  above which is large, double sided sculpture made in 1524 by Jan Van Steffesweert of Maastricht. It has also been depicts the Madonna and child attended by Cherubs inside the Corona.

8. It has two golden shrines elevated inside glass boxes in Gothic choir

Aachen, Germany: Sculputure group at the southwestcorner of the imperial cathedral photo by CE photo

There are two golden shrines elevated inside glass boxes in the Gothic choir. The one which is the closets to the octagon has been the shrine for the Virgin Mary or Marian Shrine. While the one in the back has been the shrine of Charlemagne.

The shrine of the Virgin Mary had been completed in 1238. It contains the four Great Relics of Aachen. The end gables have figures of Christ and pope Leo III. Gables on the long sides of depicts the Madonna and child( front side) and Charlemagne.

The twelves apostles populates the rest of the long sides. And the panels on the roof depicts the scenes from the life of Mary in low relief.

9. The cathedral of Aachen has been one of the best known architectural  Monument in the Western world

Aachen Cathedral’s core has been built by Charlemagne. But they were later additions which  enlarged the palatine chapel . It became the Coronation church of German Kings.

The Aachener Dom was originally the palatine chapel  of Charlemagne’s palace in Aachen. This partly explains why it is relatively small, although at the time of construction it was the largest church north of the Alps. The church was in use by 800. Legend has that Pope Leo III, who crowned Charlemagne emperor on Christmas Day 800 in Rome, dedicated the chapel in 805 but that is pure fiction

At the core of the Aachen Cathedral is the original octagon that formed the chapel of Charlemagne. The octagon with its 31.5-m high cupola is the original Carolingian structure. Almost everything else in this church, with the notable exception of the marble (the imperial throne), are later additions, including all of the decorations.

Most of the decorations inside the church were added in the 19th century when Aachen came into the possession of Prussia – the medieval art and reliquaries are now mostly in the treasury.

10. The church has been the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Aachen since 1930

Aachen, Germany: Aachen Cathedral with Palatine Chapel photo by CE photo

The Aachen Cathedral which has been  frequently referred to as the “Imperial Cathedral” It is a Roman Catholic church in Aachen, western Germany. The church is the oldest cathedral in northern Europe and was known as the “Royal Church of St. Mary at Aachen” during the Middle Ages. The church became an episcopal seat in 1802 and remained so until 1825. In 1930 the diocese was reestablished.