What you see

The Carolingian octagon, Charlemagne’s throne, and the cathedral treasury (the most precisely AachenGermany single Carolingian Palatine Chapel core original Charlemagne 792 805 CE double-shell octagon 16 outer sides 8 inner sides 31.5m dome mosaic interior Carolingian mosaic lost restored 19th century CE gold mosaic ceiling recreated original Carolingian design gold background Christ enthroned 24 elders original medieval columns ancient Roman columns from Ravenna and Rome brought north by Charlemagne bronze doors wolf head door handles original 800 CE Carolingian bronze actual 1200-year-old original metalwork still in daily use Charlemagne marble throne upper gallery 6 marble slabs assembled from Roman spolia plain no ornamentation throne of German kings 800 CE 1531 CE Karlsschrein Charlemagne reliquary 1215 CE Frederick II golden reliquary chest containing Charlemagne remains finest Mosan goldsmith work Cathedral Treasury Domschatzkammer finest collection Carolingian and medieval goldsmith work in world Lothair Cross 1000 CE Ottonian Otto III gold filigree cross Bust Reliquary Charlemagne 1350 CE gold bust containing Charlemagne skull top of head Gothic choir 1355 1414 CE seven large windows stained glass enormous 1414 CE stained glass among largest medieval gothic windows Germany Hungarian Chapel 1367 CE private chapel additional extensions several other chapels added Ottonian Hohenstaufen periods UNESCO heritage: the Carolingian columns of Aachen (the physical evidence of Charlemagne’s imperial ambitions): Charlemagne transported approximately 50 marble columns from Rome and Ravenna to Aachen for the Palatine Chapel; the columns (the green porphyry columns from Ravenna, probably from the Exarchate of Ravenna; the white marble columns from Rome) represent the physical materials of the old Roman Empire literally carried north and installed in the new Carolingian capital; the Byzantine Emperor Irene (the Eastern Roman Empress) was asked for permission to remove the columns from Ravenna — the fact that the Byzantine Emperor needed to approve the removal confirms that Charlemagne negotiated with Constantinople for imperial legitimacy; the columns are still in the interior of the Aachen Cathedral, in their original Carolingian positions — making them the most tangible physical link between the Roman Empire and the Carolingian dynasty)) — the most precisely AachenGermany single octagon 16 outer 8 inner 31.5m dome Carolingian gold mosaic Christ enthroned 24 elders recreated 19th century original design bronze doors wolf heads original 800 CE Carolingian 1200 years daily use marble throne plain Roman spolia 6 slabs upper gallery 800 1531 CE Karlsschrein 1215 CE Frederick II finest Mosan gold reliquary Domschatzkammer finest Carolingian medieval goldsmith world Lothair Cross 1000 CE Ottonian Otto III gold filigree Bust 1350 CE Charlemagne skull Gothic choir 1355 1414 CE 50 columns from Rome Ravenna Byzantine Irene permission UNESCO heritage in any UNESCO world heritage site)).