Aachen Cathedral Treasury
The Aachen Cathedral Treasury (German: Aachener Domschatzkammer) is a museum of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Aachen under the control of the Cathedral chapter, which houses one of the most important collections of medieval church artworks in Europe. In 1978, the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, along with Aachen Cathedral, was the first monument on German soil to be entered in the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Treasury contains works from Late Antique, Carolingian, Ottonian, Staufen, and Gothic times. The exhibits are displayed in premises connected to the Cathedral cloisters.
In 1995, the Cathedral Treasury was completely refurnished in accordance with the newest conservation and pedagogical knowledge. An area of over 600 m2 contains over a hundred artworks, divided into five thematic groups.
One conceptional area is the documentation of the Cathedral as the church of Charlemagne. The late gothic silver-gilt Bust of Charlemagne, a model for countless later reliquaries stands in the centre of this section. The Persephone sarcophagus, the Roman marble sarcophagus of the early third century in which Charlemagne was buried in the Cathedral is also here.
Among the objects in the Cathedral Treasury which were connected with Charlemagne is an Olifant from eleventh century (Saracen) Southern Italy or the east, which was long considered the Hunting Horn of Charlemagne. There is also the so-called Hunting Knife of Charlemagne, dating to the eighth century. It and the Petrusmesser in the Bamberg Cathedral Treasury are the only known Medieval knives that were kept above ground and therefore had a special significance from the beginning. All other similar pieces have been found in archaeological contexts. The hunting knife, made of Damascus steel is classified as Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian. The associated sheath probably dates to the eleventh century and bears an Old English inscription, reading BRHTZIGE MEC FECID (Brythsige made me).
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