Aachen-Charles the Great

Today I traveled with Paul Kieffer and Jesmina Allouwa to the city of Aachen, near the Border with Belgium and the Netherlands. Aachen was the capital of the Frankish kingdom founded by Charles the Great, otherwise known in history as Charlemagne. Here the main attraction for students of Bible prophecy is the cathedral where the Holy Roman emperors were coronated for hundreds of years.

Aachen comes from a word meaning "waters" and refers to the hot springs in the area known for their therapeutic value. Here Charles built his palace and in 805 AD a cathedral was built over the site of an ancient Celtic shrine. For the remainder of his reign Aachen was his headquarters.

The highlight of the tour was seeing the coronation chair. It sits in a loft above the old cathedral looking toward the east. The throne is made of marble and said to come from the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Like the coronoation chair of the English monarchs in Westminster Abbey is not fancy, but rather old and worn. The significance of each of these chairs is the power attached to the seat through the coronations of monarchs over a kingdom.

Through this visit I should get some good material to write on this subject for several articles in WNP. I did a short film on site that I will edit and post here at a later time.

It has been a good trip to Germany and I return to the states tomorrow. Traveling in Germany for the past ten days has given me a good insight into the region and the important role it plays in today