Odo of Metz

[7] The sole record of Odo's existence and work comes from a mention of him in an inscription commemorating Charlemagne, the text of which survives in the emperor's Vita ('life').

The art historians Josef Strzygowski and Soviet-Armenian Alexander Sahinian strengthened the belief with their theories of the Armenian roots of Odo's architecture.

[10][citation needed] A report was made during the 1960s renovations of Aachen Cathedral, that a researcher had unearthed an inscribed stone, with Odo said to be mentioned in it as coming "from the region of Mount Ararat", (i.e. Armenia).

Odo may have had access to the extensive technical knowledge embodied in the classical work De architectura through his connection to the royal court.

The text of Vitruvius' treatise is known to have been copied and preserved in Charlemagne's court scriptorium, and it is through these Carolingian Renaissance-era manuscripts that the work survived, widely rediscovered in the Middle Ages, and down to modern times.