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CENTRE CHARLEMAGNE GB Neues Stadtmuseum Aachen ROUTECHARLEMAGNEAACHEN Contents 2 Route Charlemagne 3 The building and its history Where the pillory once stood 4 Permanent exhibition Celts, spa guests, Charlemagne Prize Flintstone and hot springs Charlemagne takes up residence in Aachen What the Palace looked like The city of coronations The Great Town Fire A spa taxi for the nobility The French in Aachen Cloth and needles From frontline town to European city 6 6 8 10 12 14 15 16 18 19 20 Service Information Imprint 22 23 24 Centre Charlemagne – Neues Stadtmuseum Aachen Route Charlemagne Aachen’s Route Charlemagne connects significant locations around the city to create a path through history leading from the past into the future. At the centre of the Route Charlemagne is the former palace complex of Charlemagne, with the Town Hall, the Katschhof and the Cathedral – once the focal point of an empire of European proportions. Aachen is a historical town, a centre of science, and a European city whose story can be seen as a history of Europe. This and other major themes like religion, power and media are reflected and explored in places like the Cathedral and the Town Hall, the International Newspaper Museum, the Grashaus, the Couven Museum, the SuperC of the RWTH Aachen University and the Elisenbrunnen. The central starting point of the Route Charlemagne is the “Centre Charlemagne – New City Museum Aachen”, located on the Katschhof between the Town Hall and the Cathedral. Here, visitors can get information on all the sights along the Route Charlemagne. A three-cornered museum Why does the triangle play such an important role in the Centre Charlemagne? The answer is simple: the architects drew inspiration from an urban peculiarity of Aachen. Many of the public places in Aachen’s historic old town centre are triangular, the result of the original layout of the ancient Roman town being later overlaid in Christian times with a new street grid oriented to the East. ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 3 Where the pillory once stood Glass, light, a building within a building. The Aachen architects Jochen König and Thomas Croon, who were commissioned in 2009 with the construction of the new Centre Charlemagne, have created a bold and original museum architecture – in one of the city’s most prominent locations. Here, on the west side of the Katschhof, is where the passageway once ran that connected the Carolingian King’s Hall and St Mary’s Church, today’s Cathedral. At the end of the Middle Ages, roughly on the site of today’s museum, stood the “Acht”, a court house. In front of it was a pillory called the “Kaak” or “Kaks”, from which the square derives its present-day name: the “Katschhof”. In 1748, the Aachen architect Johann Joseph Couven built a comic theatre, which the city architect Adam F. F. Leydel transformed into the “Große Karlsschule” in the 19th century. In 1903, an opulent administrative building was erected on the site and the Ritter-Chorus-Straße was created, forming a thoroughfare through the previously enclosed west side of the square. After the Second World War, Gerhard Graubner, one of the most influential representatives of the so-called “Stuttgart School”, created a modern administrative building to replace the older one, which had been extensively damaged in the war. This building, constructed between 1957 and 1960, is considered to be a prominent example of postwar architecture and is therefore heritage-listed. The Katschhof in 1910, looking towards the neo-Gothic Town Hall – to the left the former administrative building as it looked before the Second World War. 4 The building and its history Jochen König and Thomas Croon have integrated the New City Museum into Graubner’s architecture. This involved extensive renovation of the facades on the Katschhof and Ritter-Chorus-Straße sides. The former forecourt was redesigned into a completely glazed entrance area. When you enter the building through the foyer, your attention is caught by an “elevated triangle” – the external walls of the circa 215-square-metre temporary exhibition room. LED-backlit panels on the upper sides printed with dates, symbols and events from the history of Aachen make this “building within a building” the focal element of the architectural design. Beneath the temporary exhibition room is the History Lab, a place of interactive learning for visitors of all ages. The museum’s permanent exhibition is arranged around the triangular “building within a building” as a chronological journey through Aachen’s city history. In addition to the museum, the building also continues to house a part of the city administration (entrance to the Citizens’ Service Office: Johannes-Paul-II.-Straße). ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 5 Celts, spa guests, Charlemagne Prize On its circa 800 square metres, the permanent exhibition in the “Centre Charlemagne – New City Museum Aachen” offers a tour through the history of Aachen from the Neolithic to the present day. One of the main focuses is the history and the legend of Charlemagne. Without him, the city would never have attained its historical significance as the residence of the Carolingian ruler, as a medieval city of coronations, or, after 1945, as a place of European remembrance. Civic self-assurance: in 1620, the Aachen City Council had Charlemagne cast in bronze and erected the statue in front of the Town Hall. 6 Permanent exhibition / Celts and Romans Silver coin (denar) of Charles the Bald with the Karolus monogram from the Aachen Mint, 869/70 “Centre Charlemagne” – the name of the New City Museum – pays homage to Charlemagne as the ancestor of Europe and the founding father of two nations: France and Germany. The name expresses the openness of the house to all citizens of and visitors to the city. This is reflected in the broad range of topics and in the versatile and multilingual communication of content. The interactive character of the museum is evident in more than 30 modern media stations. The whole house is barrier-free. There is an auditorium for talks and lectures, and for film shows. A separate area for projects with school classes, special kids’ zones and a history lab at the centre of the permanent exhibition room are all key elements of the museum’s educational programme. The foyer houses a Museum Shop, and “Karls” Café for those seeking refreshment and relaxation. The permanent exhibition showcases Aachen’s local history as a part of the history of Europe and the Meuse Region. It covers six topic areas: Early settlement of Aachen (5th century BC - 7th century AD) Charlemagne’s Palace and St Mary’s Church (8th - 9th century) The city of coronations (10th - 16th century) The Baroque spa resort (17th - 18th century) Dawn of the modern age (19th century) From frontline town to European city (20th - 21st century) ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 7 Flintstone and hot springs Glass drinking-horn, 4th - 5th century AD The historical tour on the lower floor of the Centre Charlemagne starts with Aachen’s myths of origin and the beginnings of historical settlement. The legends about the origins of the city feature the Romans and, of course, Charlemagne. A portal relief from the Hungarian Baths in Buchkremerstraße dating from 1879 portrays how Charlemagne – out hunting – comes across the Aachen thermal springs among the ruins of a Roman palace. And an oil Stone-age scraper for working leather 8 Permanent exhibition | Celts and Romans Charlemagne’s horse encounters the thermal springs – or so the legend told by the stone relief from 1879 would have it. painting by Albert Baur from 1898 depicts the legendary discovery of the thermal springs by the Romans, the very motif that the same artist used a few years later for his wall fresco in the staircase of Aachen’s Town Hall. Historically, there had been human settlements in the Aachen basin as long ago as in the 5th and 4th century BC. Flintstone from the Lousberg was worked into stone tools and traded far beyond regional boundaries. The Celtic settlement in the Iron Age (1st century BC) is currently only sketchily documented by archaeological finds. In accordance with the urbanisation policy of Caesar Augustus in the region between the Rhine and the Meuse, the Romans founded numerous small urban settlements in the 1st decade BC including, along with Maastricht, Tongeren, Heerlen and Jülich, Aachen itself, which probably bore the name Aquae Granni in those days. Roman Aachen reached its heyday in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD as a thermal spa with a very widespread reputation. The Centre Charlemagne has a number of relevant archaeological finds on show, including votive stones, a glass drinking-horn and the instruments of local spa doctors. A 3D animation based on the latest scientific findings shows what Roman Aachen looked like. ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 9 Charlemagne takes up residence in Aachen Around 450, the Franks superseded Roman rule in Aachen. The latest archaeological finds indicate the continuity of a Franconian settlement here from the Migration Period through to the 7th century. The first mention of Aachen as a Franconian royal court (aquis villa) dates from 765. This royal court was the central point of a huge agricultural estate that was duty-bound to provide the itinerant king and his extensive royal household with food whenever he paid a visit. After his succession to power, This detail of the Triclinium Mosaic shows Peter the Apostle handing over the insignia of power to Pope Leo III (left) and Charlemagne. The Roman original was created in around 799/800. 10 Permanent exhibition | The Carolingian era A Carolingian royal child was once buried in this sarcophagus, which was discovered in Aachen Cathedral at the end of the 19th century. Charlemagne spent the winter in the Aachen Palace (aquis palatium) for the first time in 768/69. In addition to the royal estate and the palace, there must have been a small settlement where craftsmen, servants and high-ranking members of the court lived. From around 794, Charlemagne commissioned the extension of the palace and the construction of monumental buildings. For about 20 years, Aachen was his main seat of power, from which he ruled over the mighty Franconian Empire. Through his many conquests, he increased the size of his realm to include vast areas of western and central Europe. In 800, he was crowned emperor in Rome. Charlemagne’s Church of St Mary in Aachen, today’s Cathedral, is an outstanding example of the Carolingian architecture built in those times and has an entire section devoted to it in the Centre Charlemagne featuring numerous archaeological finds, a large-scale model and a 3D animation. St Mary’s with its central structure, the Octagon, was based on models from late antiquity in Ravenna, Constantinople and Jerusalem. At the construction site in Aachen, the latest technology of the times for the processing of stone, glass and metal was applied to precious materials like marble, porphyry or gold to create a wide range of colourful and gold-plated mosaics. After his death on 28th January 814, Charlemagne was buried in an unknown location in St Mary’s Church at the Aachen Palace. ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 11 What the Palace looked like A H A B C D E F G H I B I H King’s Hall (aula regia) Granus Tower North Annex St Mary’s Church (Octagon) South Annex Atrium Southwest building Connecting passageway Portico The Aachen Palace is the focus of ongoing studies by archaeologists, building researchers, conservationists, architects and historians. In an interdisciplinary project that has been running since 2009, these experts have exchanged and compiled masses of data, documents and drawings and have succeeded in updating the model established in 1965 by the former Cathedral Master Builder Leo Hugot, a model which had remained unchallen12 Permanent exhibition | Model of the Palace C G D E F ged for many decades. The new model is constructed on the basis of the current state of research. It shows the Carolingian Church of St Mary, the Granus Tower and the King’s Hall (aula regia). For the first time, the foundations from which the reconstruction has been developed are rendered visible. Thanks to coloured shading, the archaeological finds from the individual construction phases can be seen on the metal plates set into the ground. Sanded areas of walls on the buildings indicate where the original masonry still exists today. ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 13 The city of coronations The third section of the Centre Charlemagne is devoted to the medieval coronations and to Aachen as an imperial city. Many medieval kings saw Charlemagne as the ideal of a Christian ruler and strove to emulate him. Aachen’s Church of St Mary with Charlemagne’s tomb and the throne on the gallery ascribed to him became the prime focus for commemoration and veneration of the great emperor. From the coronation of Otto I in 936 through to that of Ferdinand I in 1531, 30 East Franconian and Roman-German kings as well as 12 queens were crowned in Aachen. The artistic portrayals of the Aachen coronation ritual on the wall behind the first axis of the exhibition, the wheel of coins with over 40 royal coins and exhibits like the precious facsimile of the Aachen Imperial Gospel all draw the museum’s visitors into the fascinating world of the Middle Ages. Parallel to the coronations, the Cult of Charlemagne in Aachen grew constantly. In the year 1000, Emperor Otto III had the tomb of Charlemagne opened. He endowed St Mary’s Chapter in Aachen with privileges and relics. In 1002, he was laid to rest, like Charlemagne, in St Mary’s Church. Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa had Charlemagne declared a saint on 29th December, 1165. In all probability, Emperor Charles IV donated prominent relics to St Mary’s Chapter, including the Bust of Charlemagne and the Charlemagne Reliquary. In 1562, Aachen lost its coronation privilege to Frankfurt am Main. In the 14th century, Aachen grew into a wealthy production and trade centre for cloth and metal products and became one of the most important destinations for pilgrimages in Western Europe, as evident from the splendour of new buildings like the Gothic Town Hall and the enormous Choir Hall of St Mary’s. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the city entered a period of political and economic decline, due in no small part to the loss of the coronations and to an increase in sectarian conflicts. 14 Permanent exhibition | Coronations | Turning point in the 17th century The Great Town Fire Aachen townsfolk take flight. Jean Baptiste Huysmans’ painting portrays the Great Fire in 1656. The Great Town Fire on 2nd May 1656 had a profound impact on Aachen’s town history. The fire started in a bakery in Jakobstraße, where, as a result of negligence, a granary had spontaneously ignited. The fire quickly spread to the neighbouring houses and from there throughout the town. The readily inflammable half-timbered houses with their wooden roofs fuelled the inferno. The roof and towers of St Mary’s Church were engulfed in flames, and in the Town Hall parts of the City Archive, the Archive of the Court of Lay Assessors and the Council Library were destroyed. The colossal disaster claimed 4,425 houses and about 20 churches, infirmaries and monasteries: nine tenths of all the buildings in the town. Medieval Aachen had been obliterated. Although help was readily provided by the neighbouring towns of Maastricht and Liège as well as by Cologne and other imperial cities, the reconstruction proved to be a lengthy process that completely changed the face of the city. In the Centre Charlemagne, the most famous portrayal of the disaster is on show, a painting by Jean Baptiste Huysmans (1654-1716) or by an artist of his circle. The painting shows townsfolk fleeing with their belongings from Aachen in flames, and probably dates from several decades after the Town Fire. ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 15 A spa taxi for the nobility The gala sedan chair for spa guests is from the 2nd half of the 18th century and was made in the Aachen region. With the reconstruction following the Great Town Fire of 1656, Aachen was transformed into a modern health and spa resort. Under the influence of the Liège-born spa doctor François Blondel (1613-1703), Aachen’s spa culture experienced a modern-day heyday. Internal and external application of the thermal water was promoted as an effective treatment for rheumatism, skin, organ and respiratory ailments, inflammations, poisoning, venereal diseases and mental distress. A luxury spa complex was erected around Komphausbadstraße for distinguished 16 Permanent exhibition | The Baroque spa resort guests from all over Europe. The new spa buildings, bath houses, parks, promenades, drinking fountains, hotels and ballrooms soon dominated the Aachen townscape. In the 18th century, the architect Johann Joseph Couven (1701-1763) refurbished the Town Hall into a Baroque city palace and erected a multitude of other magnificent buildings in Aachen and its surroundings. In 1748, Aachen was the venue for the great Peace Congress that was intended to bring the Austrian War of Succession to an end. The Centre Charlemagne brings this era of Aachen’s history back to life through luxury objects like the gala sedan chair that was used as a “spa taxi”, illustrated spa magazines, graphics and coins. A media station displaying digitalisations of Couven’s original architectural drafts and pictures of the completed buildings give the museum’s visitors a vivid picture of how the face of the city was changed in those days. Two wooden sculptures, paintings and graphics illustrate how, in the era of the Catholic Counter-Reformation and the Ottoman Wars, Charlemagne as the patron saint of the city was transformed into a defender of the true Catholic faith and into a crusader. The clothing of the images of the Madonna and the Infant Jesus, made from the shroud of a French king, exemplifies the close relationship between Aachen and France that had developed through the Cult of Charlemagne. The Kaiserbad spa was so renowned that it was constantly being depicted in travel guides. (Etching from 1682) ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 17 The French in Aachen In 1794, French revolutionary forces occupied Aachen. The French fundamentally modernised Aachen’s administration, economy and culture. The demolition of the city walls, the erection of new buildings and the establishment of parks substantially changed the townscape. In 1798, Aachen became the administrative capital of the newly created Roer Department, and in 1802 an episcopal see. In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) became Emperor of France and conquered vast areas of Europe. He saw himself as the successor of Charlemagne. On two occasions he visited Aachen, which as a “bonne ville” ranked among the favoured cities of his empire. Following Napoleon’s defeat in the Wars of Liberation, French rule in Aachen collapsed in early January 1814. The Centre Charlemagne depicts the dawn of the modern age through a variety of exhibits. A model of the Tranchot Obelisk on the Lousberg, erected in 1807, and a corresponding media station focus on the important endeavour of surveying and mapping the Rhinelands. An interesting detail: in an attempt to get at the coins and medals embedded inside its plinth, the Tranchot Obelisk was blown up by Mecklenburg soldiers and Aachen townsfolk on 1st/2nd April, 1814. In 1804, Napoleon presented a valuable empire clock to the Aachen factory owner Laurenz Jecker (1769-1834). 18 Permanent exhibition | Dawn of the modern age Cloth and needles Following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the territories west of the Rhine fell to Prussia. Aachen became the administrative seat of a district president. The Prussians promoted the early industrial development of Aachen, and its health and spa resort operations. Aachen grew into a modern city. The 19th century witnessed a rediscovery of medieval town history and a revival of the Cult of Charlemagne. From the 1840s onwards, the Town Hall and the Cathedral were restored in neo-Gothic style. The Prussian kings supervised and influenced the design work. The artists Alfred Rethel and Joseph Kehren painted eight huge frescoes in the Coronation Hall of the Town Hall featuring motifs from the life of Charlemagne. With a model of a machine from cloth production and sample cases from the needle industry, the permanent exhibition in the Centre Charlemagne highlights two of Aachen’s key industries in the 19th century. A crucial factor for industrialisation was the railway that linked Aachen to the network from 1841 onwards. Graphics show the massive impact of factories, new residential quarters, stations and railway lines on the townscape. A model of the Elisenbrunnen from 1827 and a media station explore the continuing importance of Aachen as a spa resort in the 19th century. The mock-up model of a universal fulling machine dates from around 1900. ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 19 From frontline town to European city American GI Ivan Babcock posing with the Imperial Crown. 20 Permanent exhibition | Aachen after the war In 1914, and once again in 1939/40, Aachen and its region became a deployment zone of the German Reich for military operations against its western neighbours. National Socialism and the Second World War led to unimaginable atrocities and destruction. A series of allied air raids caused massive destruction to the city. On 21st October 1944, Aachen became the first German city to be taken by the Americans. The American military government began their initiative of implementing new democratic structures in Aachen. The American military government and the German civilian administration worked together to provision the population and rebuild the city. The “Aachener Nachrichten” rolled off the press as the first “free” newspaper in occupied Germany. The end of the Second World War saw the beginning of a process of political and cultural unification in Europe that is still going on today. The International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen, initiated in 1949, established Aachen’s reputation as a European city. In times of a Christian West and German-French reconciliation, Charlemagne became a historical model for European integration, and Aachen became the point of origin of his grand legacy. Today, the soft borders in the Euregio, immigration, tourism and the RWTH Aachen University have transformed Aachen’s character into that of a multi-cultural metropolis and an international city of science. The permanent exhibition traces the history of the city in the 20th and early 21st century with the help of a media slider containing more than 250 photos, a media table with numerous films, audio clips, digitalised newspapers, postcards and photos, and key exhibits like the Charlemagne Prize diplomas for Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand from 1988 and the memorial stone inaugurated in 1964 on the Katschhof by Willy Brandt: “Europa – Grundstein des Friedens” (Europe – Cornerstone of Peace). And last but not least, visitors can get to know some of Aachen’s inhabitants as they talk about their city in a film clip. The International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen: the Charlemagne Medal was awarded for the first time in 1950. ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 21 Welcome! For parents and children, for senior citizens, school classes and other groups: the permanent exhibition has an exciting programme of guided tours and workshops. Our standard tour lasts 60 minutes, and on request we also offer in-depth guided tours of the individual topic areas. Our Museum Workshop offers school classes the special opportunity to interpret what they have seen in the exhibition using their own creativity. Our workshops are tailored to the different age-groups – for preschool, primary school and secondary school classes. For special needs schools, we will gladly collaborate with the teachers to develop appropriately designed programmes. We will be delighted to act as your partner for your school projects or topic weeks and to work with you in the planning of these events. Museum Education Programme Information and bookings Sekretariat Museumspädagogik Johannes Paul II.-Str. 1, 52062 Aachen Tel. +49 241 432 4998, Fax +49 241 432 4989 [email protected] 22 Education | Service Information Centre Charlemagne Neues Stadtmuseum Aachen Katschhof 1, 52062 Aachen Tel. +49 241 432 4994, Fax +49 241 432 4989 [email protected] www.centre-charlemagne.eu Opening hours Tue-Sun 10 am - 6 pm Admission Adults: 5,00 Euro, concessions: 3,00 Euro, Family Ticket: 10,00 Euro Public guided tours Meeting point: Museum Box Office Permanent exhibition Saturdays 2 pm and Sundays 12 pm, admission only Temporary exhibition Sundays 3 pm, admission only Permanent exhibition for senior citizens (seating provided) Every first Thursday of the month at 3 pm, admission only Barrier-free Barrier-free access / WC / lift Getting there Bus: from Aachen Main Railway Station All bus lines in the direction of Bushof/Town Centre to bus stop Elisenbrunnen – continue on foot > Cathedral > Katschhof Car parks: Town Hall/Mostardstraße, Cathedral/Jesuitenstraße Museum Café “Karls” Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10 am - 6 pm, Tel. +49 241 46 36 60 87 ROUTECHARLEMAGNECENTRE CHARLEMAGNE 23 Published by Stadt Aachen, Der Oberbürgermeister Fachbereich Presse und Marketing Haus Löwenstein Markt 39, 52062 Aachen Tel. +49 (0)241 432-1309 [email protected] www.aachen.de Editor Dr. Jutta Göricke Text Dr. Jutta Göricke, Dr. Werner Tschacher, Martina Witt Translation Peter Bereza Photos Peter Hinschläger, Holger Hermannsen (p. 22), Gerhard Mertens / Stadtarchiv (p. 5), Pit Siebigs (p. 20) Design Maurer United Architects, 2009 | DDT2w, 2014 Price 1,00 Euro | Printed on 100% recycled paper