Ingelheim Imperial Palace

[1] The former palace complex is located in the cadastral area of Nieder-Ingelheim, 15 km west of Mainz, in district "Im Saal".

The greater part of the complex is located foundation under ground and archaeological excavations have been able to reconstruct the entire system of buildings.

This was also the time of the great imperial assembly (Hoftag) of June 788, at which Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria, was sentenced to death for high treason (he was ultimately pardoned to monastic imprisonment by Charlemagne).

In his Vita Karoli Magni Einhard counts the palace of Ingelheim, alongside that of Nijmegen, among Charlemagne's most important building achievements, just behind the Palatine Chapel, Aachen, and the Mainz-Kastel Rhine Bridge.

The short reign of Otto II included two Easter festivals (977 and 980) and an imperial synod (980), which were held in Ingelheim.

Like other rural palaces, it had already lost its importance for major political, religious and social events in the 11th century, after Henry III had celebrated his wedding feast for his marriage to Agnes of Poitou here in 1043.

The remains of the interior include 3,000 fragments of wall plaster painted in different colors as well as floor tiles made of marble and porphyry, some of which can be viewed in the visitor center and the Museum at the Imperial Palace.

A small palace chapel with three apses, a so-called trikonchos, was initially located in the inner courtyard to the left in front of the semicircular building.

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.

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.

For example, a gold coin and belt tongue from the time of Charlemagne have been recovered, as well as the high medieval heating system.