City of God

In popular imagination, no period of European history seems mistier, more deserving of the epithet “the Dark Ages,” than the era of Charlemagne. Some may recall him as the only man ever to achieve that dubious ambition which fired, and eluded, such varied later characters as Louis XIV, Napoleon, and Hitler, namely the unification of Europe; others may even be able to fix the year—800, a nice round number when he received the imperial crown at the hands of the Pope in Rome. But while we today still have reminders of classical times in the form of Greek and Roman ruins, and of medieval Europe with its churches and guild halls, little —with the notable exception of the Cathedral of Aachen— is left to evoke for us the image of the Carolingian empire. Carolingian man is hard to imagine.

Perhaps this is why those lucky enough to have seen the Council of Europe’s Charlemagne exhibition in Aachen in 1965 have never forgotten it. The stunning illuminated manuscripts, ivories, and metal work displayed there showed that “dark” was a totally wrong description for an age of enlightenment that produced wonders like these. Nor were its accomplishments confined to the so-called “minor arts.” The Cathedral of Aachen, built by Charlemagne in an attempt to duplicate the Byzantine church of San Vitale at Ravenna, is a magnificent structure; nor was it the only one, as is indicated by architectural models of his palace, also at Aachen, and of the church and monastic buildings depicted in the ninth century parchment known as the “Plan of St. Gall.”

RB

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Ruth Berenson

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In popular imagination, no period of European history seems mistier, more deserving of the epithet “the Dark Ages,” than the era of Charlemagne. Some may recall him as the only man ever to achieve that dubious ambition which fired, and eluded, such varied later characters as Louis XIV, Napoleon, and Hitler, namely the unification of Europe; others may even be able to fix the year—800, a nice round number when he received the imperial crown at the hands of the Pope in Rome. But while we today still have reminders of classical times in the form of Greek and Roman ruins, and of medieval Europe with its churches and guild halls, little —with the notable exception of the Cathedral of Aachen— is left to evoke for us the image of the Carolingian empire. Carolingian man is hard to imagine.

Perhaps this is why those lucky enough to have seen the Council of Europe’s Charlemagne exhibition in Aachen in 1965 have never forgotten it. The stunning illuminated manuscripts, ivories, and metal work displayed there showed that “dark” was a totally wrong description for an age of enlightenment that produced wonders like these. Nor were its accomplishments confined to the so-called “minor arts.” The Cathedral of Aachen, built by Charlemagne in an attempt to duplicate the Byzantine church of San Vitale at Ravenna, is a magnificent structure; nor was it the only one, as is indicated by architectural models of his palace, also at Aachen, and of the church and monastic buildings depicted in the ninth century parchment known as the “Plan of St. Gall.”