About
Aachen Cathedral, frequently referred to as the "Imperial Cathedral" (Kaiserdom), is a Roman Catholic church in Aachen, Germany. The church is the oldest cathedral in northern Europe and was known as the "Royal Church of St. Mary at Aachen" during the Middle Ages. The chapel used to be part of Charlemagne's palace in Aachen. For 595 years, from 936 to 1531, the Aachen chapel was the church of coronation for 30 German kings and 12 queens. With its columns of Greek and Italian marble, its bronze doors, the largest mosaic of its dome (now destroyed), the Palatine Chapel of Aachen has, from its inception, been perceived as an exceptional artistic creation. It was the first vaulted structure to be constructed north of the Alps since antiquity. It remained, during the Carolingian Renaissance and even at the beginning of the medieval period, one of the prototypes of religious architecture which led to copies or imitations (Mettlach, Nijmegen).
The cathedral is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Know Before You Go
It's in the centre of Aachen.
