Just a short one this time - but with wide historical scope... been meaning to get around to the octagonal centre of the church at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) for ever so long and this time finally made it...
of course didn't just go for the fun of it, but with purpose
intense purpose one might say
on a historical mission even - going back ages...
The seat of power – the throne of Charlemagne (supposedly) in the cathedral of Aachen was our main focus, but we did do a jaunt down to the river Rhine at Plittersdorf, just off of Bad Godesberg and one of our favorite haunts... High waters, but not enough to swamp the place as it did a few years ago...
Back via Aix-la-Chapelle, where many years gon we did various interventions at the 'Gelateria del Anno' by artist friend AVS back in 1991, among which was a performance by JL about the Throne of Charlemagne – a model for the holy see and itself a version of Solomons throne – and the most important seat of the holy roman empire and the whole notion of a unified Europe... so, gotta see, no?
We nearly missed it because we didn't know it was in a limited access area, but managed to get tickets for the last group ascending... even though it was a holiday and lots of people, but also one of the few occasions they actually light the 'Jerusalem chandelier' – so that was an additional tid-bit.
The throne itself simplistically majestic, even modernist- just tome old slabs held together by rusty crampons, but in a sumptuous surrounding breathing byzantine opulence... all a bit 19th century fake-ism, but none the less... as said, seat of power for ever so long (lots of Otto's!) and also site of historical machinations and source of much conjecture- for instance the shenanigans of Fredrick, who re-wrote most of the history to fit his own vision...
In the meantime Frederick was focused on restoring peace in the Rhineland, where he organized a magnificent celebration of the canonization of Charlemagne at Aachen, under the authority of the antipope Paschal III.(not much later deposed) – all in all a coup de théatre which shaped much of our history, and as such one of the great misrepresentations of who we are...
that being the theme of my current exhibition project and research focus... more about that later.
The most interesting things are the most enigmatic – this pineapple-head being one – they don't seem to know too much about it... letting it's own sculptural quality speak for itself.
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