Kaiserstuhl Pfalzstiftskirche Vorhalle 01

The imperial throne at Goslar () was made in the second half of the 11th century and was the throne of

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

s and kings in the Collegiate Church of St. Simon and St. Jude ("

Goslar Cathedral The church known as Goslar Cathedral () was a collegiate church dedicated to St. Simon and St. Jude in the town of Goslar, Germany. It was built between 1040 and 1050 as part of the Imperial Palace of Goslar, Imperial Palace district. The church bu ...

"), which stood in the grounds of the

Imperial Palace of Goslar The Imperial Palace of Goslar () is a historical building complex at the foot of the Rammelsberg hill in the south of the town of Goslar north of the Harz mountains, central Germany. It covers an area of about 340 by 180 metres. The palace grou ...

(''Kaiserpfalz Goslar''). Along with the

Krodo Altar The Krodo Altar () in Goslar, Germany, is an altar made entirely of bronze and is the only surviving metal church altar from the Romanesque period. It was probably made in the late 11th century. About 1600 it was popularly named after a deity K ...

it is one of the most important, surviving artefacts from the demolished cathedral. The throne comprises three sides (a backrest and two armrests), which were cast from

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

, and a stone plinth with a seat. The metal was mined in the nearby

Rammelsberg The Rammelsberg is a mountain, high, on the northern edge of the Harz range, south of the historic town of Goslar in the North German state of Lower Saxony. The mountain is the location of an important silver, copper, and lead mine. When it close ...

hill. The cast sides with their luxurious, swirling decorations, pomegranates and pierced palmetto leaves are among the most important

Salian The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty () was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125). After the death of the last Ottonian ...

bronze castings. The plinth and enclosure of the throne are made of sandstone and date to the 13th century. Its sides are decorated with

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

figures and

legendary creature A legendary creature is a type of extraordinary or supernatural being that is described in folklore (including myths and legends), and may be featured in historical accounts before modernity, but has not been scientifically shown to exist. In t ...

s. Apart from the

Aachen Throne The Throne of Charlemagne ( or ''Aachener Königsthron'', "Royal Throne of Aachen") is a throne erected in the 790s by Charlemagne, as one of the fittings of his palatine chapel in Aachen (today's Aachen Cathedral) and placed in the Octagon of ...

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

- whose shape it resembles - the Goslar imperial throne is the only surviving medieval throne of a Holy Roman

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

. The imperial throne stood in the

Collegiate Church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

until its demolition (1819–1822) and was then sold. Passing through various hands, it came into the possession of

Prince Charles of Prussia Prince Frederick Charles Alexander of Prussia (; 29 June 1801 – 21 January 1883) was a younger son of Frederick William III of Prussia. He served as a Prussian general for much of his adult life and became the first ''Herrenmeister'' (Grand M ...

in 1871 and was used for the last time in an imperial ceremony at the opening of the first Berlin Reichstag as the seat of Emperor

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

. Charles left the throne in his will to the town of Goslar. It is now in the vaults of the

. The plinth and enclosure with a replica of the bronze parts are in the remaining northern porch of St. Simon and Jude.

Sources

* Griep, Hans-Günther (1988). ''Goslar – Der Pfalzbezirk'', Verlag Goslarsche Zeitung, Goslar. * Müller, Ursula; Griep, Hans-Günther and Schadach, Volker (2000). ''Kaiserstadt Goslar'', Verlag Volker Schadach, Goslar, * Gutmann, Christoph and Schadach, Volker (2002). ''Kaiserpfalz Goslar'', Verlag Volker Schadach, Goslar, {{Authority control Goslar History of Lower Saxony Individual thrones