The Palatine Chapel

     The Palatine Cathedral was built around the late 8th century to the early 9th century during the rule of Emperor Charlemagne. Constructed in Aachen, which is in modern day west Germany, it is made to emulate churches of the eastern regions of the Holy Roman Empire and symbolize unity within the empire (Aachen Cathedral). During his rule, Charlemagne sought to reform the Holy Roman Empire in the fashion of the Byzantines. His reform was started with the writings of his Admonitio generalis and Epistola de litteris colendis which outlines his church and cultural reforms. To help in this, Charlemagne sought out the advice of scholars throughout Europe to council him through the change. During this period artists worked directly for the emperor and his chosen few, they leave behind manuscripts, sculptures, and architecture for historians to examine (Ross). Charlemagne would brandish is capital in Aachen as the "new Rome" in an effort to create positive assertations of himself as a ruler and to discredit the "Eastern Empire" which is better known as Byzantium (Freeman). 



    The Palatine Chapel uses the shape of an octagon for its inner chamber and was used as the Palace Chapel of Emperor Charlemagne. Inside, a throne for the Emperor faces the the altar from the gallery. This throne would be used as the coronation seat for all vassalized kings within the empire until 1531. an atrium on the western side connects the chapel with imperial apartments for the nobility attending. Like many other chapels, modifications and changes are made over time but the center of the Cathedral of Aachen remains distinct due to its structure. The Palatine Chapel at Aachen was constructed with a marble pillar on each vertex of the octagon supporting an upper gallery and the weight of a domed roof (Aachen Cathedral). Though the original dome was destroyed in a fire during the seventeenth century, it was later reconstructed and adorned with the murals seen today (Freeman). 

"Aachen Cathedral," United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/3/ 

Dr. Jennifer Freeman. "Palatine Chapel, Aachen."  Kahn Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medieval-world/carolingian-ottonian/carolingian1/a/palatine-chapel-aachen

Dr. Nancy Ross, "Carolingian art, an introduction," in Smarthistory, July 6, 2018, accessed October 1, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/carolingian-art-an-introduction/. 


Comments

  1. Justin DwinellOctober 4, 2020 at 5:04 PM

    Hello Alex,
    I really enjoyed reading your blog post for this week because I also did mine on an architectural piece. For each of our pieces of architect they are so similar in the fact of the type of construction and style, but the interior is completely different. The one I did was nowhere near the level of detail that your had. The columns inside the arches going up to the dome are just absolutely incredible. What a great piece!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Xaiyne Calma-ViloriaOctober 4, 2020 at 10:39 PM

    I feel the need to reiterate how emboldening ancient architecture is. When comparing ancient architectures from any time period from East Asian to Western European, the diversity among cultures, architectural elaboration and integration of significant physical imagery, it an only be collectively admired. The palatine chapel being another example: recognizing only one of its many features, it’s so illuminated with bright colors that reflect its dedication to their religion and their religious views.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Archaeological Conservation

Image
    "What ethical questions need to be considered when conducting archeaological studies on ancient sites? How can sites be protected while also being studied? How can the biases and preconceptions of archeaologists and other scholars cause problems during excavation and reconstruction? What is the difference between conservation and reconstruction? Should sites be conserved or reconstructed?"        The ethical questions involved with archaeology often focus around conservation and respect for an archaeological site. According to Tim Williams at the Getty Conservation Institute, over the last two decades, scientific techniques have advanced, allowing for noninvasive scouting in discovered sites. With the help of satellite imaging, LiDAR, and unmanned aerial vehicles, a site can be inspected before it is disturbed. Archaeologists have shifted their focus to balancing interpretation of a site, how it is presented, and conservation in an ...
Read more

Comparison between the Nok and the Djenne Art Styles.

Image
      The Nok and Djenne people are both indigenous to what is now modern-day Nigeria. Despite their closeness, the two cultures developed distinct art styles. The Nok took a more realistic approach with their artwork, with most recovered sculptures being human heads in a similar size and shape to a real human head. The Djenne's artwork often takes a more abstract approach, with long tubular limbs on their sculptures.                                                             The Nok culture creates most of their sculptures out of terracotta, which is similar to many other African cultures, including the Djenne. Unlike Djenne sculptures, they use a style called coiling which left the interior of the head hollow. The Nok style can be identified by both the eyes and hair. In most Nok sculptures they use a triangular shap...
Read more

MST Intro Post

 Hello, My name is Alex. My relationship with museums is likely pretty normal. The first trip I can really remember was to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to see the Body World exhibit. Considering how young I was it amazes me how much I remember from that trip. I think learning about how those traveling exhibits work and how curators set those up would be interesting from this class. My awareness regarding debates surrounding museums is cursory at best. I know of the debate regarding whether or not a dead person can consent to being studied and even displayed as examples of mummification as well as some issues regarding consent from descendant cultures to display artifacts of importance to them. I think that museums should be there to address the injustice that was done to all minority cultures in the US as well as the native populations. Museum's shouldn't be neutral (not that they really are as mentioned in the article). They have an opportunity to be bastions of cha...
Read more