I had the opportunity to visit Aachen Cathedral on a recent trip to Germany. Prior to the trip, I had

Getting to the Cathedral was easy enough. From the main Aachen Hubtebanhof station, it’s only a X minute walk

The day I want was X day, so it didn’t open until 1PM. I didn’t have to wait long to get in.

And once I was in, I was greeted by

The work of Charlemagne

You are greeted by this very tall domed interior space and a passageway around the space that is octagonal in shape.

The space supports a 2 storey gallery that overlooks the space, although I don’t think climbing up is possible.

Apparently, this is the only part of the structure that is original to the structure as it existed in Charlemagne’s time.

To

The Chapel was built not as a standalone structure but as part of Charlemagne’s palace at the time. But only the Chapel survives to this day.

Some of the elements used to build the church was taken from Rome as a way of tieing Charlemagne’s empire as the successor to ancient Rome.

As time went on, many changes were made to the chapel such as new designs added or removed.

As I understand it, very little of the original designs have been preserved because it was continuously

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