Palatine Chapel in Aachen

The Palatine Chapel is a medieval chapel that was part of Charlemagne's palace, now included in the Catedhral in Aachen, Germany. It is the city's major landmark and the central monument of the so-called Carolingian renaissace. The chapel holds the remains of Charlemagne and was the site of coronations for 600 years.


Charlemagne began the construction of the Palatine Chapel around 792, along with the building of the rest of the palace structures.

The plan and decoration owe much to the sixth-centuryBasilica of san Vitale, Ravenna. Indeed Charlemagne visited Ravenna three times, the first in 787. In that year he wrote topope Hadrian I and requested "mosaic, marbles, and other materials from floors and walls" in Rome and Ravenna, for his palace.

The main entrance is dominated by awestwork comprising the western facade including the entrancevestibule, 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.


The construction, including barrel andgroin vaults and an octagonalcloister-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 ancientspolia, 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.