Aachen Cathedral

Barbarossa's Chandelier hangs from the vault in the Palatine Chapel. It is a huge (4.2-meter diameter) bronze circlet commissioned by Frederick Barbarossa for the occasion of Charlemagne's canonization. It was created in 1165-84 in Aachen and is inscribed with a dedication to Mary from Barbarossa and his wife Beatrix. On special holy days the candles are lit, which must be quite a spectacular sight.

The chandelier's design represents the Heavenly Jerusalem as envisioned in Revelation, yet it has only eight towers (plus eight archways with smaller towers) instead of the twelve described in Revelation. Fortunately, the dedicatory inscription explains this - the deviation from the biblical description was intentional, so that the chandelier would fit perfectly into the eight-sided imperial chapel for which it was designed.