Aachen Cathedral Treasury

The Aachen Cathedral Treasury holds one of the densest concentrations of medieval sacred art north of the Alps, assembled across nearly twelve centuries around the Carolingian core of the cathedral. Its centerpiece is the Karlsschrein of 1215 — a gilded, figure-covered reliquary crafted in the high-medieval goldsmith tradition to house the bones of Charlemagne, made as Aachen's pilgrimage traffic grew rapidly. Equally striking is the Lothar Cross from the early 11th century: at its center sits an ancient Roman cameo portrait of Augustus, repurposed by Ottonian patrons into a Christian devotional object with calculated ambiguity. Every seven years the Heiligtümerfahrt pilgrimage brings the treasury's four great relics into public procession through the city, a practice documented since the 13th century. Visitors can also study Carolingian ivory carvings and vestments from the Palatine Chapel whose origins reach back to the 8th century — tangible remnants of the first unified European imperial space.