Barbarossa Chandelier
The emperor’s chandelier in Aachen Cathedral, a city wall in gilded copper.
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Empress Beatrice gave the chandelier to Charlemagne’s church at Aachen. It still hangs in the middle of the octagonal chapel, one of UNESCO’s first World Heritage Sites.
Materials: Gilded copper and brass, engraved plates
Manufacture: Eight arcs with towers, engraved with images and text, joined into an octagonal ring.
The octagonal ring mirrors the octagonal space of the church below it.
Engraved images on the undersides of the towers, visible only from below.