The Imperial Palace Ingelheim (german: Ingelheimer

Kaiserpfalz The term ''Kaiserpfalz'' (, "imperial palace") or ''Königspfalz'' (, "royal palace", from Middle High German ''phal ne'' to Old High German ''phalanza'' from Middle Latin ''palatia'' luralto Latin ''palatium'' "palace") refers to a number of ...

) is an important imperial palace erected in the second half of the 8th century in Germany. It served

Emperors An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

and Kings as a

residence A residence is a place (normally a building) used as a home or dwelling, where people reside. Residence may more specifically refer to: * Domicile (law), a legal term for residence * Habitual residence, a civil law term dealing with the status ...

and place for

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until the 11th century.http://landderhildegard.de/sites/ingelheim/kaiserpfalz-imperial-palace-/ Ingelheim › Kaiserpfalz (Imperial Palace) The palatinate complex is located in the cadastral area of Nieder-Ingelheim, 15 km west of

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

, in district "Im Saal". It is located at a slope with a view of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

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 Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

under ground and archaeological excavations have been able to reconstruct the entire system of buildings.

Historical studies

Initial studies in the Palatinate area took place middle of the 19th century. In August 1852 Cohausen reported about first smaller excavations. 1888-89

Paul Clemen Paul Clemen (31 October 1866 – 8 July 1947) was a German art historian known in particular for his large inventory of monuments in the Rhineland area, many of which were destroyed or severely damaged in World War II. Clemen was born in Leipz ...

joined with

excavations In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

. The German Association for Art Research started under the direction of

Christian Rauch Christian Daniel Rauch (2 January 1777 – 3 December 1857) was a German sculptor. He founded the Berlin school of sculpture, and was the foremost German sculptor of the 19th century. Life Rauch was born at Arolsen in the Principality of ...

in 1909 with systematic studies. These studies had to be stopped with the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, but, Rauch had published preliminary reports on excavations, after which a 1931-32 model was made, which was viewed by 1975 in the image of a typical

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

palace. In 1960, the excavations were taken under the direction of

Walter Sage Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

by the

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again. In 1963, Hermann Ament led the excavations, followed by further excavations in 1965 and 1968/70 by Uta Wengenroth-Weimann. Following an overall plan of excavation and reconstruction drawings of Walter Sage, Konrad Weidemann made another model of the imperial palace Ingelheim in 1975. Since 1995 there have been ongoing excavations in the Pfalz region. These studies aim to recapture, describe, and date the individual parts of the building and the overall topography and brought quite a few discoveries to light. For example, a gold coin and a belt tongue from the time of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

, as well as a high medieval warm air heating recovered. In addition, the latest excavation results were used to create last year a new reconstruction model of the Palatinate Ingelheim, have been incorporated into the current findings.

Historical studies

References

Further reading