Visit Aachen Town Hall

Aachen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, is located in the heart of Europe. It is situated in a picturesque mountain basin, just 5 km from the border of Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Aachen is a famous tourist destination and is known as the "Heart of Europe." It is famous for its hot springs (the hottest in Central Europe) and has been a popular spa destination since the 1st century AD. Aachen is an important railway hub with five train stations and is also an industrial and technological center. More than 2,000 years ago, the Celts discovered Aachen. Later, the Romans, who loved bathing, built spa facilities here, and a settlement gradually formed around it, which became the prototype of Aachen. Later, a branch of the ancient Germanic people, the Franks, migrated and settled here. Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, loved Aachen and made it the capital of the Frankish Kingdom, spending most of his later years here. During the Middle Ages, Charlemagne ruled most of Western Europe, and Aachen, as the center of the kingdom, was the center of his power, earning it the nickname "Cradle of Europe." In 800 AD, after Charlemagne was crowned emperor, he made Aachen the capital of the Frankish Kingdom. The Gothic-style town hall and its coronation hall were built in the 14th century on the foundations of the Carolingian imperial palace. Many of the columns were taken from ancient Roman and Ravenna buildings. The columns or niches on the facade of the building are carved with full-length statues of German emperors. The entire building is grand and elegant, with an imposing presence. Many emperors held banquets or imperial meetings in the coronation hall of the town hall. The left meeting room has portraits of emperors such as Charlemagne and Franz II. The wall at the entrance of the second-floor hall depicts the Romans discovering the hot springs, and the walls inside the hall feature historical murals. Alfred Rethel's five frescoes of Charlemagne, replicas of imperial symbols (crosses, globes, swords, crowns), and a Carolingian manuscript are worth seeing.