STUDIO

Medieval treasures of Germany

George Young

ACROSS THE OPEN WESTPHALIAN BASIN OF PLUMING steel stacks and wide estuary, the distinctive spires of Aachen Cathedral disrupt the skyline of the region Karl Marx called “the coal and steel heart of Germany”. But at one time, it was from here that the Emperor Charlemagne [1] commanded his empire in Western and Central Europe. An abundance of religious objects in the cathedral treasuries at Aachen and Essen, and an important museum of Russian icons, confirm the Eastern origins of a spiritual programme that manifested itself in the Carolingian and latterly, Ottonian, Renaissance. Charlemagne’s adoption of the imperial project led him to the fallen empires of classical antiquity, but also to the living one of Byzantium whose Greek language and religious differences had shielded it from Western influence for over…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, December/January 2025

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