Statue of Charlemagne (Aachen)

It was first erected in 1620 on the Marktplatz in front of Aachen Town Hall, as part of the monumental Karlsbrunnen [de] fountain.

The statue now standing on the Karlsbrunnen is a 1969 copy, and the original has been kept since 2014 at the nearby Centre Charlemagne [de] museum.

The statue was appropriated by French troops during the Rhineland Campaign of 1792 and transferred to Paris, but Napoleon gave it back to Aachen in June 1805 upon a request from Aachen Mayor Johann Wilhelm Gottfried von Lommessem [de], who had visited Paris in December 1804 and attended Napoleon's coronation ceremony.

It was removed again during World War II for protection and kept in the town hall's basement until re-erection in 1948.

The original was exhibited in the town hall's Coronation Hall (Krönungssaal) until the creation of the Centre Charlemagne on the former Imperial palace ground or Katschhof [de], where it has been kept since 2014, the 1200th anniversary of Charlemagne's death.