Imperial Palace

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Charlemagne first visited in September 774, returning for a continuous stay from late 787 until mid-788. It was here that the great imperial assembly of June 788 condemned Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria, to death for high treason before Charlemagne commuted his sentence to monastic imprisonment. Einhard later ranked this palace alongside Nijmegen as a top achievement of Charlemagne's reign, second only to Aachen and the Mainz-Kastel Rhine Bridge. In August 807, Charlemagne gathered his court again, though he increasingly favored Aachen for its hot springs which relieved his rheumatism. His son, Louis the Pious, visited ten times between 817 and 840, hosting five imperial assemblies, four embassy receptions, and a church synod. The summer of 826 saw two important diets held here. On June 20, 840, Louis the Pious died on an island in the Rhine off Ingelheim, though his body was transferred to Saint-Arnould Abbey in Metz.

In Their Own Story

Under Ottonian rule, the palace regained prominence; Otto the Great visited at least ten times, matching his frequency of visits to Aachen. June 948 hosted a crucial synod intended to resolve the schism in Reims, followed by further imperial synods in 958, 972, 980, 993, and 996. Otto II celebrated Easter festivals here in 977 and 980, alongside a synod in 980, while Otto III made it his most frequent destination. By 1043, Henry III held his wedding feast for Agnes of Poitou within these walls, marking the last major political event before its decline. During the Hohenstaufen era, Frederick I Barbarossa may have met Hildegard of Bingen here in 1154 or 1163; Rahewin's "Gesta Frederici" notes he expanded and restored it, though only its fortification is certain. After this, it served mainly for territorial security, inhabited by Burgmannen, until Charles IV became the last ruler to stay in 1354.

Reader's Guide

The architectural heart was the Aula regia, a single-nave apsidal hall measuring 40.5 m × 16.5 m with side portals on east and west sides. Unlike Aachen or Paderborn, it featured a main entrance in the longitudinal axis following ancient models. The surrounding semicircular building had an 89 m diameter, stood at least two floors high, and included six round towers with complex water-conducting facilities. This Carolingian structure was fortified with the "Heidesheimer Tor." Inside, visitors can view 3,000 painted wall plaster fragments and marble or porphyry floor tiles in the visitor center and Museum. Originally, a small trikonchos chapel stood to the left of the semicircular building; it was replaced by a larger apse hall shortly before 900. In the 10th century, a new hall church was built to the right, renovated in the 12th-century Romanesque style. French troops during the Revolution collapsed everything except the choir and transept walls. Renovation began in 1803, with a neo-Romanesque bell tower added in 1861 and the nave rebuilt in 1965.

Did You Know?

• Louis the Pious died on an island in the Rhine off Ingelheim on June 20, 840.
• Charlemagne stayed continuously from the end of 787 until mid-788 to preside over the trial of Tassilo III.
• The Aula regia featured a unique main entrance in the longitudinal axis, unlike other Frankish palaces.
• Otto III visited Ingelheim more often than any other Ottonian ruler.
• Over 3,000 fragments of painted wall plaster and marble/porphyry floor tiles survive from the complex.