Sitting under the shadow of Cologne Cathedral and preparing to begin my progress around the elector cities of the Holy Roman Empire, I’ve decided to use Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation as a lodestar. Turn to the index for Aachen and read the last words.
😳
That was 50 years ago.
He were are at Aix-la-Chapelle, the first station of #HRE2020 - where else to begin? Where Charlemagne sought to rival the extant Roman Empire of the East. Where the Church’s strategy since Gregory the Great of restoring Romanitas through Christianity reached its apogee.
Aachen really is very like Ravenna. 🤩
I was not expecting quite how much I would love the Cross of Lothar. (I know, I know. Christianity, politics, Augustus, beauty, Rome, mediæval history: how could I *not* love it, I hear you ask.)
It is magnificently well explored by Kenneth Clark, of course.
Some more of Aachen Cathedral as we leave, where beauty has been used to glorify God and Man, each in their part, for over a thousand years. Also a reflection from Clark, who isn’t having any of the modern take that barbarism wasn’t barbaric & the Dark Ages weren’t dark.
(For those who think I *never* like modern art, the stained glass was put in after the War. Although the individual pieces leave a lot to be desired, the overall effect isn’t bad. I’ll borrow from Mark Twain & say that the stained glass of Aachen isn’t as bad as it looks.)
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