animals—snakelike bodies with birdlike beaks—and, in part, of circles and
sweeping, interlaced curves.
The Romans themselves, beginning notably with the emperor Constantine,
were sometimes converts to Christianity, and this strengthened the Catholic
presence in the Germanic and Gallic lands. Indeed, Constantine spent much
time at Trier, on the Mosel, a city founded by the emperor Augustus. A short
distance north of Trier, the city of Aachen became the capital of Charlemagne.
During Charlemagne’s reign, Aachen witnessed a cultural revival in arts
and letters. What survives of the visual artistic activity, however, is almost
entirely in the minor or decorative arts, such as gold and other metalwork,
ivory carving, and illuminated manuscripts. Murals, relief sculpture, and
mosaics existed, according to documents, but most have vanished.
The palace built by Charlemagne at Aachen has also vanished, but his
palace chapel stands as a testament to his interest in the art of the Italian
peninsula. Charlemagne had ¿ rst visited Rome in Easter week of 774, where
he consolidated his ties to the Roman Church by con¿ rming its Italian
territorial possessions, which would become the basis of the Papal States.
He also made three military forays over the Alps for campaigns in northern
Italy. On one or more of these Italian trips, Charlemagne visited Ravenna, on
the Adriatic coast, once an important Roman port. The capital of the western
Roman Empire had been moved to Ravenna in 402 because the city offered
protection from the barbarian invasions. Then, in the mid-6th century, the
Byzantine emperors had established their court there, and the ¿ rst of these
emperors, Justinian, had built the Church of San Vitale (547, Ravenna).
The polygonal S. Vitale is quite massive outside, but inside it is distinguished
by much light, reÀ ected from some of the ¿ nest and most important
mosaics of the early Byzantine period. Charlemagne was obviously deeply
impressed by the architecture, and of course, he was keenly aware of its
symbolic signi¿ cance as imperial architecture. As we see in the Palatine
Chapel (805, Aachen), Charlemagne and his artistic advisors imported the
ground plan, as well as the actual columns and bronze doors, from Rome
and Ravenna, but they showed no apparent interest in the mosaic decoration.
In fact, the interior has a heaviness quite different from the insubstantial
atmosphere of the reÀ ected light and splendid color of Byzantine art, as