The royal chapel of Charlemagne at Aachen is an octagon as many early chapels designed to be used for baptisms were.

October 21, 1944 — During World War II in Europe, American troops captured Aachen in western Germany after a week of hard fighting. It was the first large German city taken by the allies.

Aachen first developed from a Roman settlement and spa. It became the preferred medieval Imperial residence of Charlemagne and served as his capital. It was also the place where 31 Holy Roman Emperors were crowned Kings of the Germans from AD 936-1531. Charlemagne ordered the construction of the cathedral there in 796 AD and when it was completed in AD 798, it was the largest cathedral north of the Alps. On his death, Charlemagne’s remains were interred in the cathedral and can be seen there to this day. After Frederick Barbarossa canonized Charlemagne in AD 1165, the chapel became a destination for pilgrims. For 600 years Aachen Cathedral was the church of coronation for 30 German kings and 12 queens.

Legends developed that either Charlemagne or Frederic Barbarossa would eventually rise from their tombs just before the End of the World to combat the Antichrist. Both Charlemagne and Frederick were thought to be the personification of the “Good King” who cared for and protected his people, bringing law and order to areas torn apart by chaos and violence. They are very similar to King Arthur in this regard, who was also expected to return to save Britain in its time of greatest need.

Another legend states that when Frederick was in the process of seizing Milan in AD 1158, his wife, the Empress Beatrice, was taken captive by the enraged Milanese and forced to ride through the city on a donkey in a humiliating manner. Frederick took his revenge for this insult by forcing the magistrates of the city to remove a fig from the anus of a donkey using only their teeth. To add to this debasement, they were made to announce, “Ecco la fica!” (meaning, “Behold the fig!”), with the fig still in their mouths. It used to be said that the insulting gesture called fico), of holding one’s fist with the thumb in between the middle and forefinger (which was also a way to curse one’s enemies),came by its origin from this event.

Figs and fig leaves were important in folklore and magic. Adam and Eve used fig leaves to clothe themselves when they realized that they were naked. Fig leaves also protected Romulus and Remus as infants so that they could grow up to found the city of Rome. The Pharaohs took dried figs to their graves in order to sustain their souls on their journey into the afterlife. They thought the goddess Hathor would emerge from a fig tree to welcome them into heaven.