The Church of St. Mary, originally built as the chapel of
Charlemagne’s imperial palace in Aachen in 786 AD, was part of
the emperor’s dream of creating a ‘new Rome’. With this building
he laid the foundations of one of the most important
architectural monuments in Europe. The cathedral’s appearance
reflects more than 1,000 years of history. Charlemagne’s
palatine chapel forms the core of the cathedral. The single-nave
chancel was consecrated on the 600th anniversary of his death
and the bold architecture of the ‘glass house’, as it is known,
is as impressive today as it was then. During the 600 years from
936 to 1531, 30 German kings were crowned in Aachen Cathedral.
Today, the cathedral has lost nothing of the splendour of
centuries past. The first ensemble of historical and
architectural importance in Germany to be inscribed on the
UNESCO World Heritage list (in 1978), this is a building of
outstanding significance.