Charlemagne Research Paper

The Palatine Chapel at Aachen, Germany is an example of Early Christian medieval architecture and one of the earliest examples of Carolingian architecture. The Palatine Chapel was contrasted between the years of 790 and 805 by architecture Odo of Metz. Metz created the chapel for Emperor Charlemagne, who ruled during the second half of the eighth century. Charlemagne was a strong new force that emerged on the continent, and his ruling brought out new ideas, architecture and religion to the people under his ruling. It was under Charlemagne, that the new dynasty of Carolingian was created, and with his expansion, he brought this dynasty to many different places around the continent. And it was Charlemagne that created the well-known chapel described
Charlemagne had the very strong and elaborate goal restoring the Western Empire, rather than to destroy and to make way with an all new tradition. He admired learning and was a great patron of the arts, and so he had high hopes of reviving these both once he was in a position of power. He had a great understanding and appreciation for Latin, even though it was not his birth language and realized that it was important for official reasons as well as religious practice throughout the many territories he ruled. Such things included Latin texts and classical documents, but more heavily, he was active in the reforming of education and visual arts. With him having a great admiration for learning, he was able to restore Latin as a literacy language through the help of monks and priests who also served as clergy; and he did all this without having the knowledge to
While upon first constructing the chapel, Charlemagne thought of having some influence come from Byzantine architecture, however when the constructing began, it seemed to take on a more different architectural style. In his article, Conant writes, “…for a while it is and was meant to be superficially Byzantine, it is in its wall and vault construction, in its use of cut stone and rubble, of ramping vaults, ribs, diaphragm walls, and columnar buttresses, a true fore- runner of Romanesque building” (Conant, 445). While there are some influences form Byzantine architecture, the chapel was more heavily influenced from past architectural work such as the San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. Charlemagne visited San Vitale multiple times in the past and loved so many things about its architecture and style. The San Vitale is an early example of a centrally planned church, which is a church consisting of an alter in the center and mainly used for baptisteries and tombs. The exterior of The Palatine Chapel seems to be very elaborate. It consists of a westwork, transept, aisle, chancel, nave, and an apse. It was an innovative building in both its plan and elevation, and is quite amazing the way it is displayed. Even though the influence comes from San Vitale, it is much larger in