Aachen

Germany

Aachen, in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany, borders both Belgium and the Netherlands. The Romans developed its hot springs into a spa town, and from 792 Charlemagne spent most winters there, making it the centre of his court; he built the Palatine Chapel, now the cathedral, and was buried in it after his death in 814. His adviser Alcuin of York led the palace school at the heart of the Carolingian revival of learning. German kings were crowned at Aachen from 936 to 1531. In the modern era its technical university, now RWTH Aachen, became a leading engineering school, where Arnold Sommerfeld taught from 1900 to 1906.