Wooden square-rigged sailing ship with the image of an eye on its prow, in full sail. Prussian era Byzantine-style mosaic from the late 1800s or early 1900s in the Palatine Chapel of Frankish Emperor Charlemagne or Charles the Great (747-814 AD), at Aachen, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. The Palatine Chapel is now part of Aachen Cathedral.
Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany: a wooden square-rigged sailing ship with a single mast, topped by a Teutonic or Germanic cross, is amongst the late-1800s and early-1900s Byzantine-style mosaics in the Palatine Chapel of Frankish Emperor Charlemagne or Charles the Great (747-814 AD), now part of Aachen Cathedral. The ship has the image of an eye on its prow and a long tiller and rudder at its stern. The golden bands above the ship are studded with depictions of diamond-shaped jewels The soaring octagonal Palatine Chapel, consecrated in 805 AD, was designed by Armenian architect Eudes or Odo of Metz, who is believed to have modelled it on the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, world-renowned for its vivid Byzantine and Ostrogoth mosaics and inlaid marble. Odo 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. Many of the original mosaics and marble panels within the Palatine Chapel were replaced in the late-1800s and early-1900s Prussian era. They were not exact replicas, but their Byzantine style was in keeping with the original designs. Although Aachen Cathedral 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.
Size: 2819px × 2819px
Location: Palatine Chapel, Aachen Cathedral, Aachen, North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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