Aula Regia of the Imperial Palace in Ingelheim

The Ingelheim Imperial Palace (German: Ingelheimer Kaiserpfalz) is an important imperial palace erected in the second half of the 8th century in Germany. It served Emperors and Kings as a residence and place for governance until the 11th century.[1] The palatinate complex is located in the cadastral area of Nieder-Ingelheim, 15 km west of Mainz, in district "Im Saal". It is located at a slope with a view of the Rhine plains. Impressive remains of the buildings of the palace have been preserved above ground to this day. The greater part of the complex is located foundation under ground and archaeological excavations have been able to reconstruct the entire system of buildings.

History of study

Model of the area in the 14th century, created in 2013.

The first investigations of the palace area took place in middle of the 19th century. These first, small excavations were reported by Karl August von Cohausen in August 1852. Paul Clemen undertook further excavations in 1888/9. The German Association for Art Research began systematic studies under the direction of Christian Rauch in 1909, which had to brought to a halt following the outbreak of the First World War. However, Rauch published preliminary reports on the excavations. This formed the basis of a model of the palace as a typical Carolingian palace, which was developed in 1931/32 and endured until 1975. In 1960, new excavations were undertaken by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under the direction of Walter Sage. In 1963, Hermann Ament led new excavations, followed by further excavations in 1965 and 1968/70 under Uta Wengenroth-Weimann. Based on the overall plan of excavation and reconstructions by Walter Sage, Konrad Weidemann produced a new model of the Ingelheim Imperial Palace in 1975. Since 1995 further excavations have been ongoing in the area of the palace. These studies aim at a new record, description, and dating of the individual parts of the structure and of the overall topography. They have already led to quite a few discoveries. For example, a gold coin and belt tongue from the time of Charlemagne have been recovered, as well as the high medieval heating system. In addition, the latest excavation results have been used to create a new model of Ingelheim palace.

References

Further reading

  • Günther Binding (1996). Deutsche Königspfalzen. Von Karl dem Großen bis Friedrich II. (765–1240). Primus-Verlag, Darmstadt ISBN 3-89678-016-6.
  • Holger Grewe (2004–5). Neue Ergebnisse zur Sakraltopographie der Kaiserpfalz Ingelheim. In: Archäologie in Rheinland-Pfalz. ISSN 1614-4627
  • François Lachenal, Robert Boehringer (Hrsg.) (1974). Ingelheim am Rhein. 774–1974. Boehringer, Ingelheim.
  • Hans Schmitz (1974). Pfalz und Fiskus Ingelheim (= Untersuchungen und Materialien zur Verfassungs- und Landesgeschichte. Bd. 2). Hessisches Landesamt für geschichtliche Landeskunde u. a., Marburg ISBN 3-7708-0495-3.

49°58′39″N 8°04′19″E / 49.9775°N 8.0720°E / 49.9775; 8.0720

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