UNKNOWN GOLDSMITH, German
(active 1210s in Aachen)

Shrine of Charlemagne (detail)

1215
Bronze
Cathedral Treasury, Aachen

Charlemagne died in 814, having ruled as emperor for just over thirteen years. He was laid to rest in his imperial capital of Aachen, buried in a Roman sarcophagus. In 1215 his bones were re-interred in an ornate Gothic shrine. This panel from the shrine depicts Charlemagne dedicating his chapel to the Virgin.