Death Anniversary: Charlemagne — January 28, 814

Charlemagne died at Aachen on 28 January 814 and was buried that same evening in St Mary’s Church — the Palatine Chapel he had built, whose octagon is still the core of Aachen Cathedral. His marble throne survives in the upper gallery, and his shrine stands in the choir. Twelve centuries later, the chapel remains what it was on the day of the funeral: the centre of his world made stone.