Dutch Aken; French Aix la Chapelle
FormalPara Category:Site
FormalPara Definition:A city in northwestern Germany which is the site of a palace complex of Carolingian buildings, particularly a chapel built by Odo of Metz for Charlemagne between 790 and 805. Aachen was the capital of Charlemagne’s kingdom and the Palatine Chapel (also called Palace Chapel or Octagon) was part of the Cathedral of Aachen. This complex served as Charlemagne’s court and national church of the empire. The chapel is the only surviving structure and the most important surviving example of Carolingian architecture. The chapel contains Charlemagne’s marble-slab throne, which was used for the coronations of 32 Holy Roman emperors from 936 to 1531. Odo of Metz modeled it after the Byzantine-style Church of San Vitale at Ravenna.
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(2021). Aachen. In: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58292-0_10005
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58292-0_10005
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