Palatine Chapel in Aachen

The Palatine Chapel in Aachen is the chapel of Charlemagne's palace, now part of Aachen Cathedral. It is Aachen's major landmark, the central monument of the so-called Carolingian Renaissance, and the reason the French call the city Aix-la-Chapelle. The chapel holds the remains of Charlemagne and was the site of coronations for 600 years.

As part of the Aachen Cathedral, the chapel is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History

Charlemagne began the construction of the Palatine Chapel around 792, along with the building of the rest of the palace structures.Kenneth J. Conant, "Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture", 4th ed. (New Haven, 1994), p. 47).] It was consecrated in 805 by Pope Leo III in honor of the Virgin Mary. The building is a centrally planned, domed chapel. The east end has a square apse, and was originally flanked by two basilican structures, now lost but known through archaeology. The chapel was entered through a monumental atrium, to the west. The plan and decoration of the building combines elements of Classical, Byzantine and Pre-Romanesque, and opulent materials as the expression of a new royal house, ruled by Charlemagne.

The architect responsible, Otto of Metz, is named in a tenth-century inscription around the dome:
"Insignem hanc dignitatis aulam Karolus caesar magnus instituit; egregius Odo magister explevit, Metensi fotus in urbe quiescit".
About him, we know nothing. The building he designed has a simple exterior and a complex interior, with a double shell octagonal dome resting on heavy piers, a two-story elevation, and elaborate revetment and decoration.

Structure

There is a sixteen-sided ambulatory with a gallery overhead encircling the central octagonal dome. The plan and decoration owe much to the sixth-century Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna. Indeed Charlemagne visited Ravenna three times, the first in 787. In that year he wrote to Pope Hadrian I and requested "mosaic, marbles, and other materials from floors and walls" in Rome and Ravenna, for his palace.Monumenta Germaniae Historica, "Epistolae" III Merowingici et Karolini Aevi, I, 614 .]

The construction, including barrel and groin vaults and an octagonal cloister-vault in the dome, reflects late Roman, or Pre-Romanesque, practices rather than the Byzantine techniques employed at San Vitale, and its plan simplifies the complex geometry of the Ravenna building. Multi-coloured marble veneer is used to create a sumptuous interior. The chapel makes use of ancient spolia, conceivably from Ravenna (Einhard claimed they were from Rome and Ravenna), as well as newly carved materials. The bronze decoration is of extraordinarily high quality, especially the doors with lions heads and the interior railings, with their Corinthian order columns and acanthus scrolls.

The dome was decorated originally with a fresco then later with mosaic. After a fire these have been replaced with a nineteenth-century reproduction, which has the same iconography as the original if not the stylistic qualities. It depicts the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse bearing crowns and standing around the base of the dome. Above the main altar, and facing the royal throne, is an image of Christ in Majesty.Charles McClendon, "The Origins of Medieval Architecture" (New Haven, 2005), pp. 108-19.] The upper gallery of the chapel was the royal space, with a special throne area for the king, then emperor, which let onto the liturgical space of the church and onto the atrium, outside, as well.

The main entrance is dominated by a westwork comprising the western facade including the entrance vestibule, rooms at one or more levels above, and one or more towers. These overlook the atrium of the church. The addition of a westwork to churches is one of the Carolingian contributions to Western architectural traditions.

ee also

*Carolingian architecture
*Palace of Aachen

References