Aachen

Aachen(in German): Aachen [шaχ felt] (?·i); in gravel: Oche [oxe]; in German bass: Akenin French: Aix-la-Chapellein Dutch: Akenand Latin: Aquisgranum), also known as Baths of Aachen, is a city in the government district of Cologne in North Rhine-Westfalia (Germany). Aachen was the favorite residence of Charlemagne, and later it was the crowning place of the German kings. It is the westernmost city of Germany, located next to the borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, 61 km southwest of Cologne. Within the region there are coal mines and this has affected its economic history. The Technical University of Aachen, one of the universities of excellence in Germany, is in the city. The prevailing economic approach in Aachen is in science, engineering, technology and related sectors. In 2009, Aquisgrán ranked eighth among the most innovative cities in Germany. The city's population exceeds 260 000 inhabitants.

Toponymy

The name Aachen is of uncertain origin. The location has been inhabited by man since Neolithic times, approximately 5,000 years ago, attracted by its hot springs. The root Aa, or variants such as Ae, E, Ee, Ie, or IJ are found in the names of rivers or other water sources in Germanic-speaking areas. Northern Europe, in particular the Netherlands and northwestern Germany.

These river names are derived from the Old German aha or ahwô meaning "water". These words share an older Indo-European root with the Latin Aquae.

The Latin term "Aquae" is the origin of the Roman name Aquae granni, meaning "Water of Grannus", referring to a Celtic deity revered in the area. However, an alternative etymology attributes the element granni to a Roman officer named Grenus, who established a Roman military camp in the area during the time of Emperor Hadrian around 124 AD. This name became Aix in French, and later in Aix-la-Chapelle after the construction of a cathedral in the city under Charlemagne at the turn of the century VIII, who had made the city the capital of his empire.

In this way, the derivative place names related to the term "water" in the Germanic and Romance languages they are a case of parallel evolution. The city is known by a variety of different names in other languages:

Aachen dialect

Aachen is at the western end of the Benrath line that divides the High Germanic languages in the south from the rest of the West Germanic language zone in the north. The local dialect of the city is called Öcher Platt and belongs to the group of Ripuarian Franconian languages.

History

Ancient History

The flint quarries in Lousberg, Schneeberg and Königshügel, which were first used in the Neolithic period (3000-2500 BC) testify to the long occupation of the Aachen site, as do recent finds found below Elisengarten of the modern city, which show that there was an ancient settlement from that time. In the Bronze Age (around 1600 BC) settlement was evidenced by the remains of burial mounds found, for example, at Klausberg. During the Iron Age, the area was settled by Celtic peoples who may have been drawn to the hot sulfur springs in the marshy Aachen Basin, where they worshiped Granum, god of light and healing.

It was a Celtic settlement until the conquest by the Romans, in the time of Hadrian, who probably used it as a retreat and cure place for legionnaires, taking advantage of its hot springs (remains of Roman baths have been discovered). They gave the current name to the city, dedicated to the god "Granum", to whom healing qualities were attributed. They began by piping the thermal waters into a spa in Büchel in the I century BCE. C., adding at the end of the century the Münstertherme spa, two aqueducts and a temple dedicated to Granum. A kind of forum, surrounded by porticoes, connected the two spas. There was also a large residential area, in which a Jewish community flourished. The Romans built public baths near Burstcheid. A temple area called the Vernenum was built near modern Kornelimünster/Walheim. Today all that remains are two fountains in Elisenbrunnen and the bathhouse in Burtscheid.

Roman civil rule fell apart in Aachen between the late IV century and the early V. Rome withdrew its troops from the area, but the city remained populated. Around 470, the city passed to the Ripuarian Franks and was subservient to their capital, Cologne.

Middle Ages

After Roman times, Pepin the Short had a castle built in the city, and Aeginard mentions that between 765 and 766 Pepin spent Christmas and Easter in the city of Aquis ("Et celebravit natalem Domini in Aquis villa et pascha similiter"), which must have been properly equipped to accommodate the Royal House for months. In the year of his coronation as King of the Franks, in 768, Charlemagne spent Christmas in Aachen for the first time. This is the subject of controversy, as some history books say that Charlemagne was, in fact, born in Aachen in 742. He then resided there in the palace which he may have expanded. Although there is no source attesting to any significant activity in the building at that time, he did build the Aachen Palatine Chapel (since 1929, cathedral) and palatial presentation rooms. Charlemagne spent most of the winters in Aachen between 792 and his death in 814. Aachen became the focus of his court and the political center of his empire. After his death, the emperor was buried in the church that he had built; Although his original tomb has been lost, his supposed remains remain in the chapel where he was reburied, after being declared a saint. His holiness, however, was not recognized outside the Principality of Liège, where he is still venerated by tradition.

In 936 Otto I was crowned king in the collegiate church built by Charlemagne. While Otto II ruled, the nobles revolted and the West Franks took the city in the ensuing confusion. Aachen was attacked again, this time by Eudes II of Blois, who attacked the imperial palace, while Conrad II was away. He quickly abandoned him and was assassinated shortly thereafter. For the next 500 years, most of the kings of Germany destined to reign over the Holy Roman Empire were crowned in Aachen. Charles IV was not crowned in Aachen after his father John his was killed in battle against Louis IV of Bavaria in a dispute going back twenty years. So he was crowned in Bonn.The last king to be crowned in Aachen was Ferdinand I in 1531.

During the Middle Ages, Aachen remained a city of regional importance, due to its proximity to Flanders, achieving a modest position in the woolen cloth trade, favored by imperial privileges. Aachen remained a free imperial city, subject only to the emperor, but it was too politically weak to influence the policies of any of its neighbors. The only domain it had was over Burtscheid, a neighboring territory ruled by a Benedictine abbey. She was forced to accept that all her trade passed through the Aachener Reich area. Even in the 18th century he prevented Burtscheid Abbey from building a road connecting its territory to the neighboring states of the Duchy of Jülich; the city of Aachen even deployed a handful of soldiers to scare off the workers.

16th-18th centuries

Aachen siege in 1614

As an imperial city, Aachen retained certain political advantages that allowed it to remain independent of the problems of Europe for many years. It was a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire throughout most of the Middle Ages, as well as the site of many important church councils, including the Council of 836 and the Council of 1166, a council called by the antipope Paschal. III. In 1598, after the Protestant rebellion of the Netherlands that belonged to the crown of Spain and were known as the Spanish Netherlands, Spanish troops were sent to quell said rebellion, Rudolf II belonging to the House of Austria dispossessed all business owners Protestants in Aachen and even went so far as to expel them from the city. From the 16th century, Aachen began to lose power and influence. It all started with the coronation of the emperors who were not crowned in Aachen, but in Frankfurt. During the Juliers-Cleveris Succession Crisis, the city was besieged by a Spanish army in 1614, with Spanish troops remaining in the city until their withdrawal in 1632. Later came the Wars of Religion and the Great Fire of 1656. in 1794, when the French, under the command of General Carlos Francisco Dumouriez, occupied Aachen.

Aachen became attractive for its spa in the mid 17th century century, not so much due to the effects of the thermal waters in the health of its visitors, but because Aachen was then - and remained well into the 19th century century - a place of high prostitution in Europe. Traces of this part of the city's hidden history can be found in guidebooks from the 18th century in Aachen, as well as in other spas. The main disease, ironically, was syphilis; only at the end of the 19th century the main reason for visiting Aachen and Burtscheid became the treatment of rheumatism. Aachen was chosen as the site of several important peace congresses and treaties: the first Aachen congress in 1668 led to the First Treaty of Aachen, in the same year that the War of Return ended. The second congress ended with the Second Treaty in 1748, concluding the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1789, a constitutional crisis ensued in the Aachen government.

19th century

On February 9, 1801, according to the Treaty of Luneville Aachen and the entire area on the left bank of the Rhine to Germany passed into the hands of France. In 1815, control of the city was ceded to Prussia by an agreement made at the Congress of Vienna. The third congress took place in 1818 to decide the fate of the area occupied by Napoleonic France.

Cathedral of Aachen in the middle of the centuryXIX

In the mid-19th century, industrialization toppled most of the medieval rules in the city about trade and production, although traces of corruption remained in the medieval city constitution (read Georg Forster's famous words in his Ansichten vom Niederrhein) until 1801, when Aachen became the prefecture of the Roer Department, in Napoleon's First French Empire. In 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars, the Kingdom of Prussia took over and the city became one of the most socially and politically backward centers until the end of the century XIX.

Administered in the province of the Rhine, in 1880 the population was 80,000. Started in 1838, the railway from Cologne to Belgium passed through Aachen. The city suffered from extreme overcrowding and deplorable sanitary conditions until 1875, when the medieval fortifications were finally abandoned as residential areas and new, less squalid quarters were built in the eastern part of the city, where waste drainage was easier. In December 1880, the Aachen tram network was inaugurated, which was electrified in 1895. In the 19th century and Until the 1930s, the city was important for the production of locomotives, wagons, and carriages, iron, pins, needles, buttons, tobacco, woolen products, and silk.

20th century

After World War I, Aachen was occupied by the Allies until 1930. Aachen was one of the towns that participated in the ill-fated Rhine Republic. On October 21, 1923, an armed group seized the mayor's office. Similar actions took place in Mönchengladbach, Duisburg and Krefeld. This Republic only lasted for about a year. Aachen was badly damaged during World War II. The city and its fortified environs were surrounded from September 13 to October 16, 1944 by the United States 1st Infantry Division and 3rd Artillery Division along with the 2nd Artillery Division and 30th Infantry Division, also from the United States, during the protracted battle of Aachen, later reinforced by the Twenty-eighth Infantry Division.

German prisoners after the city was taken in 1944 during World War II

Direct attacks through the heavily defended city finally forced the German garrison to surrender on October 21, 1944. Aachen was the first German city to be captured by the Allies, and its inhabitants welcomed the soldiers as liberators. The city was partially destroyed - and some areas completely - during the fighting, mostly by American artillery fire and demolitions carried out by the Waffen-SS defenders. Buildings were damaged, including the medieval churches of Foillán de Fosses, Saint Paul and Saint Nicholas, as well as Aachen's town hall, even the cathedral suffered a heavy impact. Only 4,000 inhabitants remained in the city, as the rest had followed evacuation orders. The first Allied-appointed mayor, Franz Oppenhoff, was assassinated by an SS commando.

History of Jewish Aachen

During the Roman period, Aachen was a thriving Jewish community. Later, during the Carolingian Empire, a Jewish community existed near the royal palace. In 802, a Jew named Isaac accompanied Charlemagne's ambassador to Harun al-Rashid. During the 13th century, many Jews converted to Christianity as shown in the records of St. Marry's Church. In 1486, the Jews of Aachen offered gifts to Maximilian I during his coronation ceremony. In 1629, Aachen's Jewish community was expelled from the city until 1667, when six Jews were allowed entry. Most of Aachen's Jews settled in the nearby town of Burtscheid. On May 16, 1815, the city's Jewish community paid homage to the Prussian King Frederick William III in his synagogue. The city's synagogue was built in 1860 and destroyed during the Night of Broken Glass in 1938. A Jewish cemetery was purchased in 1851. There were 1,345 Jews living in the city in 1933 and in 1939, after emigration and arrests, there remained only 782. After World War II there were only 62 Jews. As of 2003, 1,434 Jews had returned to Aachen. In Jewish texts, the city of Aachen was called Aish or Ash (אש).

21st century

The city of Aachen has become a center of technology as it is home to one of the leading technological universities in Germany with the RWTH Aachen (Rheinisch - Westfälische Technische Hochschule), known above all for mechanical engineering, automotive and computer technology. manufacturing, as well as its research and academic hospital Klinikum Aachen, one of the largest medical centers in Europe.

Geography

Aachen is situated on the tripoint of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium in the middle of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, which contains an open valley basin that includes tributaries of the Wurm and Rur rivers. The city is located in the basin of the Meuse River, just at the northern limit of the Eifel region of the Rhenish Massif, about 30 km north of the Hautes Fagnes. The highest point in Aachen reaches 410 meters Normalnull (NN) and is located in the extreme southeast of the city. The lowest point is 125 m NN and is located in the north, on the border with the Netherlands. The city's border length is 87.7 km, 23.8 km of which separate it from Belgium and 21.8 km border the Netherlands. From north to south, the city is 21.6 km at its widest and from east to west, it is 17.2 km.

Northwest: Maastricht (Netherlands)	North: Alsdorf, Germany
		This: Eschweiler (Germany)
Southwest: Liège (Belgium)	South: Eupen (Belgium)

Climate

As the westernmost city in Germany (and close to the Netherlands), Aachen and its surroundings belong to a temperate climate zone, with a humid climate, mild winters and warm summers. Due to its location to the north of the Eifel and Hautes Fagnes region and its subsequent predominant western weather patterns, rainfall in Aachen (averaging 805 mm/yr) is comparatively higher than, for example, Bonn (with 669 mm/year). Another factor in Aachen's local climate is the presence of foehn winds in the south, which results from the city's geographical location in the far north of the Eifel region.

Because the city is surrounded by hills, it suffers from smog related to thermal inversion. Some areas of the city have become islands of heat as a result of poor thermal exchange, both due to the natural geography of the area and due to human activity. The numerous cold air corridors in the city, programmed to leave zones free so that new constructions are possible, therefore play important roles in the urban climate of Aachen.

The January average is 3.0 °C, while the July average is 18.5 °C. Precipitation is spread almost equally throughout the year.

Average climatic parameters of Aquisgrán, Germany from 1981 to 2010 (Source: DWD)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	16.2	20.2	23.1	28.7	32.8	34.5	36.7	36.8	32.2	26.9	22.1	16.8	36.8
Average temperature (°C)	5.4	6.2	10.1	14.1	18.2	20.8	23.3	23.0	19.2	14.8	9.3	5.9	14.2
Average temperature (°C)	3.0	3.2	6.4	9.5	13.6	16.2	18.5	18.0	14.6	11.0	6.6	3.7	10.4
Temp. medium (°C)	0.7	0.6	3.2	5.5	9.2	11.8	14.1	13.9	11.2	7.9	4.3	1.5	7.0
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	-16.4	-15.8	-9.9	-4.7	0.4	3.9	5.8	6.7	3.8	-3.7	-7.6	-14.3	-16.4
Total precipitation (mm)	68.1	63.6	67.0	55.7	72.0	80.3	75.2	74.8	69.2	70.1	66.1	74.9	836.8
Hours of sun	63.5	83.0	119.3	163.4	195.6	196.6	208.5	195.7	149.3	120.4	71.0	50.2	1616.5
Source: Data derived from Deutscher Wetterdienst

Geology

Sandstone layers and clay stone formation from the Devonian period under the Church of San Adalberto in Aachen.

The geology of Aachen is structurally very heterogeneous. The oldest rocks were produced in the vicinity of the city during the Devonian period and include Carboniferous sandstone, greywacke, clays and limestones. These formations are part of the Rhenish massif, north of the Hautes Fagnes. In the Pennsylvanian subperiod of the Carboniferous geologic period, these rock layers narrowed and folded as a consequence of the Variscan orogeny. After this event, and over the course of the next 200 million years, this area has been continuously flattened.

During the Cretaceous period, the sea penetrated the continent from the direction of the North Sea to the mountainous area near Aachen, bringing with it clay, sandstone, and chalk deposits. While clay (which was the basis of a large ceramic industry in nearby Raeren) is found mainly in the low-lying areas of Aachen, there were sandstone and chalk formations from the Late Cretaceous on the Aachen Forest Hills and on Lousberg. The most recent sedimentation is found mainly to the north and east of Aachen, and was formed through currents and wind activities during the Tertiary and Quaternary.

Throughout the thrust, during the Variscan orogeny, there are more than thirty hot springs in Aachen and Burtscheid. Furthermore, the subsoil of Aachen is traversed by numerous active faults, which belong to the Rurgraben fault system, which in the past was quite responsible for numerous earthquakes, including the 1756 Düren earthquake and the 1992 Roermond earthquake, which was the strongest earthquake ever recorded in the Netherlands.

Demographics

Aachen has a population of 236,420 (as of May 9, 2011), of whom 116,340 are women and 120,090 are men. The age distribution is as follows: 3 years: 5,500; from 3 to 5 years: 5340; 6 to 14 years: 17,000; 15 to 17 years: 6060; 18 to 24 years: 31,060; 25-29: 23,370; 30 to 39 years: 29,680; 40 to 49 years: 34,030; 50 to 64 years: 40,880; 65 to 74 years: 23,030; Age 75 and over: 20,570. (9 May 2011). The average age as of December 2010 was 40.8 years.

The unemployment rate in the city is, as of April 2012, 9.7%. At the end of 2009, foreign-born residents were 13.6% of the total population. significant part of the foreign residents are students of the Technical University of Aachen.

Neighborhoods

Map of Aachen

The city is divided into seven administrative districts, or wards, each with its own district council, district leader, and authorities. The councils are elected at the local level by those who live within the districts, and these are subdivided into smaller sections for statistical purposes, with each sub-district being named by a two-digit number.

The districts of Aachen, including their constituent statistical districts, are as follows:

• Aachen-Mitte: 10 Markt, 13 Theater, 14 Lindenplatz, 15 St. Jakob, 16 Westpark, 17 Hanbruch, 18 Hörn, 21 Ponttor, 22 Hansemannplatz, 23 Soers, 24 Jülicher Straße, 25 Kalkofen, 31 Kaiserplatz, 32 Adalbertsteinweg, 33 Panneschopp, 34 Rothe Erde, 35 Trierer Straße, 36 Frank Hangenberg, 37 Forst, 41 Beverau, 42 Burtscheid
• Brand: 51 Brand
• Eilendorf: 52 Eilendorf
• Haaren: 53 Haaren (including Verlautenheide)
• Kornelimünster/Walheim: 61 Kornelimünster, 62 Oberforstbach, 63 Walheim
• Laurensberg: 64 Vaalserquartier, 65 Laurensberg
• Richterich: 88 Richterich

Irrespective of the official statistical designations, there are 50 neighborhoods and communities within Aachen, here organized by districts:

• Aachen-Mitte: Beverau, Bildchen, Burtscheid, Forst, Frankenberg, Grüne Eiche, Hörn, Lintert, Pontviertel, Preuswald, Ronheide, Rosviertel, Rothe Erde, Stadtmitte, Steinebrück, West
• Brand: Brand, Eich, Freund, Hitfeld, Niederforstbach
• Eilendorf: Eilendorf, Nirm
• Haaren: Haaren, Hüls, Verlautenheide
• Kornelimünster/Walheim: Friesenrath, Hahn, Kitzenhaus, Kornelimünster, Krauthausen, Lichtenbusch, Nütheim, Oberforstbach, Sief, Schleckheim, Schmithof, Walheim
• Laurensberg: Gut Kullen, Kronenberg, Laurensberg, Lemiers, Melaten, Orsbach, Seffent, Soers, Steppenberg, Vaalserquartier, Vetschau
• Richterich: Horbach, Huf, Richterich

Neighboring communities

The following border cities and communities with Aachen, organized clockwise from the northwest: Herzogenrath, Würselen, Eschweiler, Stolberg and Roentgen (which are all in the Aachen district); Raeren, Kelmis and Plombières (Province of Liège in Belgium), as well as Vaals, Gulpen-Wittem, Simpelveld, Heerlen and Kerkrade (all of them in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands).

Economy

In the former industrial plants in the area, technology companies have established themselves, thanks to the impetus given by the Technical University of Rhineland-Westphalia (RWTH) in Aachen. Aachen was the administrative center for the surrounding coal mining industries, especially for its northeastern neighbors.

The city is located in one of the most economically vigorous regions of the European Union. It is one of the most important development centers of the multinational company Ericsson, world leader in the telecommunications market.

The most important products manufactured in or around Aachen are electronics, chemicals, plastics, machinery, furniture, metal products, textiles, glass, cosmetics, rubber, food products (chocolate and sweets), and needles and pins. Though once very important, today glassware and textile production account for only 10% of the total industrial jobs in the city.

Education

Central Building of the Technical University of Aachen, founded in 1870

The Technical University of Aachen (RWTH Aachen), established as a Polytechnic in 1870, is one of the universities of excellence in Germany with a strong emphasis on technological research, in particular for electrical and mechanical engineering, computer science, physics and chemistry. It is a public university. The university clinic linked to the Technologie, Aachen Clinic, is the largest single-wing hospital in Europe. Over time, a large software and computer industry has sprung up around the university. It also houses a botanical garden (the Aachen Botanical Garden).

Aachen FH, the Aachen University of Applied Sciences (AcUAS) was founded in 1971. The AcUAS offers classical engineering education in professions such as Mechatronics, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Electrical Engineering. German and international students are educated in more than twenty foreign-oriented international programmes, and can acquire German as well as international degrees (Bachelor/Master) or Doppeldiplome (double degrees). Foreign students make up more than 21% of the student population.

The German Army Technical School (Technische Schule des Heeres und Fachschule des Heeres für Technik) is in Aachen.

Sports

Equipment	Sport	Competition	Stadium	Creation
Alemannia Aachen	Football	Regionalliga West	New Tivoli Stadion	1908

Local soccer team Alemannia Aachen had a short Bundesliga career after being promoted in 2006. However, the team couldn't sustain their situation and is now back in the fourth division. The "Tivoli" stadium, inaugurated in 1928, served as the venue for local matches and was well known for its unrivaled atmosphere in the second division. Before the demolition of the old stadium in 2011, it was used by the amateurs, while the Bundesliga club played in the new stadium "New Tivoli Stadion", a couple of meters from the road. Construction of the stadium, which has a capacity of 32,960, began in May 2008 and finished in early 2009.

The annual CHIO (short for the French term Concours Hippique International Officiel) is the world's largest equestrian meeting and is considered as prestigious by jockeys in horsemanship as Wimbledon is in tennis. Aachen hosted the 2006 World Equestrian Games (in the Hauptstadion of the Soers Sports Park) and CHIO 2011. The city's largest tennis club, "TC Grün Weiss", hosts the ATP tournament annually.

Transportation

Trains

Aachen's railway station, the Hauptbahnhof (central station) was built in 1841, with the Cologne-Aachen route and replaced in 1905, moving it significantly closer to the city center. The main lines go to Cologne, Mönchengladbach and Liège, as well as Heerlen, Alsdorf, Stolberg and Eschweiler. The InterCityExpress(ICE) on the Brussels-Cologne-Frankfurt am Main line and Thalys trains from Paris to Cologne also stop at Aachen Central Station. Four regional express lines and two Regionalbahn lines connect Aachen with the Ruhr area, Mönchengladbach, Liège, Düsseldorf and Siegerland. The Euregiobahn, a regional rail system, reaches several smaller cities in the Aachen region.

There are four smaller stations in Aachen: Aachen West, Schanz (on the western edge of the city), Rothe Erde (on the east) and Eilendorf Station (on the southeast). The slower trains stop here. The West Aachen station has given priority to the expansion of the Technical University of Aachen.

Roads

Aachen is connected to the Autobahn A4 (west-east), A44 (north-south) and A544 (a smaller highway that runs from A4 to Europaplatz, near the city center). There are plans to remove traffic jams like the highway interchange in Aachen.

Charlemagne Prize

Since 1950, a committee of Aachen citizens has awarded the Charlemagne Prize (in German Karlspreis) annually to outstanding personalities for their service to the unification of Europe. Traditionally it is granted on Ascension Day at the Town Hall. Most recently, in 2013, the Charlemagne Prize was awarded to Dalia Grybauskaite, the President of Lithuania.

The international prize awarded in 2000 to Bill Clinton, President of the United States, for his special personal contribution to cooperation with European states, for the preservation of peace, freedom, democracy and human rights in Europe, and for his support for the enlargement of the European Union. In 2004, Pope John Paul II's efforts to unite Europe were honored with an "Extraordinary Charlemagne Medal," which was awarded only once.

Culture

In 1372 Aachen became the first city in the world to mint a coin to regularly place on the date of the Anno Domini a regulation on the circulation of its coin, the groschen.

The Scotch-Club, in Aachen, was the first nightclub; it has been open since October 19, 1959. Klaus Quirini, as DJ Heinrich was the first DJ.

Aachen is also well known for the carnival (Karneval, Fasching), in which people take to the streets in colorful costumes.

Places of Interest

The "Rathaus" of Aachen

• City Council of Aachen: Built on the ruins of the palace of Carlomagno in 1330, it is between two central places, Markt (market square) and Katschhof (between the Town Hall and the Cathedral). A tower and part of the foundations are preserved from the old Carolingian palace. A copy of the Kingdom ' s badges, evacuated to Vienna on the arrival of Napoleon and never returned, is found in the main room, and there is a lawsuit brought before the Hague International Tribunal.

In this room, adorned with five magnificent frescoes by Alfred Rethel, where legendary scenes from the life of Charlemagne are shown including a signature, the Charlemagne Prize is awarded every year (since 1950) to characters with a marked European profile, for his contribution to the European construction. It was received by, among others, Robert Schuman, King Juan Carlos I in 1982, Felipe González in 1993, Bill Clinton in 2000 and Javier Solana, representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, in 2007. It also contains the room of the emperors.

Night view of the Cathedral of Aachen

• Cathedral of Aachen: at its origin is the octogonal Palatine Chapel, erected at the beginning of the centuryVIII by order of Carlomagno, being at that time, the largest cathedral in the north of the Alps. They were inspired by the church of San Vital de Rávena (Italy) and was built by Eudes de Metz. At his death, the remains of Carlomagno were buried in the cathedral, and can be seen today. There is preserved the (supposed) throne of Carlomagno (actually, it is later, although it comes from a Roman floor, as it is verified by having signed a board for a popular game of legions dice). The cathedral was growing several times in later years, becoming a curious and unique blend of architectural styles. For six centuries, from 936 to 1531, the Cathedral of Aachen was the place where thirty kings and twelve queens were crowned. The cathedral built by Carlomagno remains the main tourist attraction of the city. In addition to the celebration of the remains of his founder, he became the place of burial of his successor, Oton III. The Cathedral of Aachen has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
• Grashaus, a late-morning home in Fisch Markt, is one of the oldest non-religious buildings in the centre of Aachen. It houses the city archive. The Grashaus was the old town hall before the current building took over this function.

Elisenbrunnen

• Elisenbrunnen: is one of the most famous places in Aachen. It is a neoclassical style room that contains one of the famous thermal springs of the city. It's just a minute from the cathedral. Just a few steps towards the southeast is a century theaterXIX.
• Ponttor and Kleinmarschiertor: Ponttor is a medieval gate one kilometer northwest of the cathedral. Kleinmarschiertor, is another door located near the train station. There are also parts of the medieval wall that have belonged, although most are integrated into more recent buildings, there are still visible sections. There are even five towers, some of which are used as housing.
• Church of San Miguel: was built by the Jesuits in 1628. It is attributed to the Rhine Mannerism and is a sample of rebirth in local architecture. The rich facade was unfinished until 1891 when the historicist architect Peter Friedrich Peters finished it. The church is a Greek Orthodox church today, but the building is also used for concerts due to good acoustics.
• Jewish synagogue: which was destroyed in the Night of the Rotos Crystals (Kristallnacht), on November 9, 1938, was inaugurated on May 18, 1995. One of the contributors for the reconstruction of the synagogue was Jürgen Linden, mayor of Aachen from 1989 to 2009. On 30 March 2011, an aerosol-painted swastika was reported on a synagogue wall, as an anti-Semite act.

• There are many other notable churches and monasteries of the centuries XVII and XVIII, in the particular Baroque typical of the region, a Jewish synagogue, a collection of statues and monuments, areas of parks and cemeteries among others. Among the museums of the city are the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum, which has a collection of sculptures and the Museum of Aachen of the International Press, which has been dedicated to newspapers since the centuryXVI to the present. The industrial history of the city is reflected in dozens of manufacturing sites during the centuries centuryXIX and principles XX..

Gastronomy

Aachener Printen

It is said that it was in Aachen that the sandwich was invented. He participated John Montagu IV, Count of Sandwich, in the negotiations of the Peace of Aachen, in the delegation that represented the Empress Maria Teresa. But his passion for cards would have led him to neglect his meals, which would have worried his servants, who would have started preparing food for him that he could eat while playing cards. Whether it is true or not, a portrait of the Earl of Sandwich hangs in the Aachen town hall.

Aachen's local specialty is Aachener Printen, a type of biscuit originally from Aachen. Originally sweetened with honey, Printen are now sweetened with sugar beet syrup because honey was temporarily unavailable after Napoleon ordered an embargo, which blocked all trade with the main honey supplier, the United States. The custom of sweetening with sugar beets was maintained after the defeat of Napoleon and the end of the French occupation.

Printen are made with a variety of ingredients, including cinnamon, anise, cloves, cardamom, coriander, allspice, and also ginger. However, the exact mix of these ingredients is kept secret by the various factories in Printen.

In addition to the original Printen, there are also ones with nuts (usually almond and peanuts), covered with chocolate or glaze and marzipan.

Twinnings

Notable people