AACHEN, GERMANY 3/15/13

Aachen was the first German monument to be included in UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.  It is Germany's most western town, near the Belgium and Dutch borders, and we were on our way to spend the night in Brugges, Belgium.   We had snow during the week, but we had expected it all to be over.... instead we woke up to snow covered roads, including the autobahn:(   By Wiesbaden the roads were clear, the sky was blue but the ground was snow covered.   The Dom/Cathedral of Aachen was started as Charlemagne's palace chapel in 800.  In the top picture you can see the older stones on the original octagonal structure with the 1414 Gothic chancel to the right.  The middle picture is the interior of the chancel. The gold shrine of St. Mary in the foreground contains 4 holy relics (apparel of the Virgin Mary, swaddling clothes and loincloth of Christ, and decapitation cloth of John the Baptist) that are displayed every 7 years.  The gold shrine in the background contains the bones of Charlemagne (814) and his throne has  been used for the coronation of 30 German Kings!  Bottom picture is the beautiful interior of the palace chapel with mosaics, marble, pillars and the Barbarossa chandelier (1165) symbolizing New Jerusalem.       We knew the history of this church but were very surprised that it was so lovely.... and the black and white arches reminded us of the mosque in Cordoba, Spain!!!