Grey Germanic or Teutonic cross inlaid in reddish-pink and dark grey marble panels inside the octagonal former Palatine Chapel of Frankish Emperor Charlemagne or Charles the Great (747-814 AD) in his palace at Aachen, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. Kings and queens were crowned in the chapel, now part of the Aachener Dom cathedral.
Aachen, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany: finely-worked inlaid marble panels inside the former Palatine Chapel consecrated in 805 AD in the imperial palace of Frankish Emperor Charlemagne or Charles the Great (747-814 AD) include this grey Germanic or Teutonic cross surrounded by reddish-pink and darker grey veined slabs. Many of the marble panels and mosaics within the octagonal former Royal Chapel of St Mary, now part of the city’s Aachener Dom cathedral, were replaced during the late-1800s and early-1900s Prussian era, although the Byzantine style of the new mosaics does echo the inspiration behind the chapel’s design. Its Armenian architect, Eudes or Odo of Metz, probably modelled it on the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, famous for its original Byzantine mosaics, and he also re-used ancient columns and marble from Rome, Ravenna, Trier and Cologne. The lofty stone structure was once the largest church north of the Alps. For 600 years, from 936 to 1531, it served as a Kaiserdom or coronation church in which 30 German kings - most of them also Holy Roman Emperors - and 12 queens were crowned. Although the Aachener Dom has only been a cathedral with its own diocese since the 1930s, it is one of Germany’s oldest churches and is among the country’s earliest buildings still in continuous use. Despite Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque additions and widespread World War II damage to Aachen, the octagon survives in its original form. Inside, it contains the Karlsthron, Charlemagne’s marble imperial throne, as well as a gilded Romanesque shrine containing his remains and original bronze doors and railings cast in a local foundry. Charlemagne’s successor, Otto III, is also buried here.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Aachen, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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