"Aachen, the town of Charles (Karel) the... " a Aachen Travel Page by Pavlik_NL

Aachen, the town that now is situated in Germany, can easily be called one of the most European towns on our continent. In name it differs already. The Germans say Aachen, but the Dutch make it Aken. In French it even becomes "Aix la Chapelle". In Italian it's "Aquis Granium" and in Spanish it's known as "Aquis Grana". In these last two one finds back the original Latin name "Aquis Villa", that related back directly to "water". Already in the first century BC a celtic people have had a settlement here, that was turned into a Roman militairy centre, as well as a "Spa"! The Romans built "thermae" here and used the mineral waters that the town is so rich of extensively. The real blossoming period of Aachen came with Charlemagne / Charles the Great, that choose Aachen as the capitol of his great empire (around 800 AD). The town grew to a seize that made it one of the largest cities in early medeival times. Charles the Great had the plan to built new Rome, as the old Rome was still recovering from the destructions of the Huns and the growing threat to Constantinopel / Byzantium grew every year.

In the year 796 Charles the Great started to built a brand new cathedral. He never has seen himself being finsihed, as it took almost a thousand years to do so. This also because Aachen is situated on the crossroads of three states that shifted their borders regularly at the cost of the triangle in between Germany, France and The Lowlands. This triangle, stretching out over The Mid-Western part of Germany, Eastern Belgium, North-Eastern France and The South of The Netherlands is a area where many influences, cultures and languages melt into one. The cathedral however has a beauty of it's own as it is of architecture that you will not find anywhere else in North-Western Europe. Not the outside, as it became through the ages a church that has mixed Roman and Gothic characteristics. No, it's the inside that will enchant most visitors. Having the examples of Byzantian churches and styles, the inside will make you feel being in this long fallen empire. The mozaic ceiling, the glass-in-lead windows, the enormous crownlike chandelear. This is breath taking.

After the falling apart of Charles the Great's empire, Aachen's growth slowed down and even came to a halt. It decreased when wars and the plague came over the town, but the mind of the citizens was always there to rebuilt, restore and to keep the identity that it always had.
Aachen has kept also it's name as a "spa". It holds a couple of large bath houses in which the visitor can relax or take a health-treatment with the mineral waters that are welling up from various sources. History, tourism and the fact that it became a important congress-town (as the European atmosphere that is felt everywhere in town).