Aix-la-Chapelle (Ger. Aachen), the capital of a district in Rhenish Prussia, is situated in a fertile hollow, surrounded by heights, and watered by the Wurm, 39 miles W. by S. of Cologne. Pop. (1867) 67,923; (1890) 103,470, of whom not 7 per cent. are Protestants. Aix-la-Chapelle is the centre of a valuable coal district, and of numerous thriving manufactories, especially for spinning and weaving woolen fabrics, and for needle and pin making. There are also immense manufactures of machinery, bells, glass buttons, chemicals, and cigars. As a principal station on the Belgian-Rhenish railways, Aix is an important centre of trade. The city is rich in historical associations. It emerges from historical obscurity about the time of Pepin; and Charlemagne founded its world-wide celebrity. Whether it was his birthplace is doubtful, but in 814 it became his grave. In 796 he had rebuilt the imperial palace, as well as the chapel in which Pepin had celebrated Christmas in 765. The present town-house was built in 1353 on the ruins of the palace; the chapel, after being destroyed by the Normans, was rebuilt by Otho III. in 983, and forms the nucleus of the cathedral. This ancient cathedral is in the form of an octagon, which, with various additions round it, forms on the outside a sixteen-sided figure. In the middle of the octagon, a stone, with the inscription 'Carolo Magno,' marks the site of the grave of Charlemagne. In 1215 Frederick II. caused the remains of the emperor to be inclosed in a costly shrine. In the newer part of the building are kept the so-called 'great relics,' which, once in seven years, are shown to the people in the month of July, and which attracted thousands of strangers in 1888. Much has of late years been done to restore this venerable pile. The columns brought by Charlemagne from the palace of the Exarch at Ravenna, to decorate the interior of the octagon, had been carried off by the French; but most of them were restored at the peace of Paris, and replaced in 1846. The town-house, adorning the market-place, is flanked by two towers older than itself, which suffered much by fire in 1883. Its coronation-hall, 162 feet long by 60 wide, in which thirty-five German emperors and eleven empresses have celebrated their coronation banquet, has been restored to its original form, and the walls have been decorated with frescoes of scenes from the life of Charlemagne. Before the town-house stands a beautiful fountain, with a bronze statue of Charlemagne. As a town, Aix-la-Chapelle has recently been much improved. It now possesses broad streets, many fine public buildings, tasteful churches, and luxurious hotels; and from being a quiet old city of historical interest, has become a busy centre of manufacturing industry.
The name of the place is derived from the springs, for which it has been always famous. Aa or Aachen is derived from aach, an old German word for water; the French Aix is the Latin aquæ, while the Chapelle in the French name is the chapel of the palace. Charlemagne granted extraordinary privileges to this city. The citizens were exempted, in all parts of the empire, from personal and military service, from imprisonment, and from all taxes. In the middle ages, this free imperial city contained more than 100,000 inhabitants. The emperors were crowned in Aix-la-Chapelle from Louis the Pious to Ferdinand I. (813-1531). Seventeen imperial diets and eleven provincial councils were held within its walls. The removal of the coronations to Frankfort, the religious contests of the 16th and 17th centuries, a great fire which in 1656 consumed 4000 houses, combined with other causes to bring into decay this once flourishing community. In 1793, and again in 1794, Aix-la-Chapelle was occupied by the French. By the treaties concluded at Campo Formio and Lunéville, it was formally ceded to France, until in 1815 it fell to Prussia.
The MINERAL SPRINGS of Aix-la-Chapelle, of which six are hot, and two cold, were known in the time of Charlemagne, and have been frequented since as early as 1170. The temperature of the hot springs varies from 111° to 136° F. They chiefly act on the liver, and on the mucous surfaces and skin, and are therefore efficacious in cases of gout, rheumatism, cutaneous diseases, &c. The cold springs are chalybeate, and not so copious.
TREATIES OF PEACE and CONGRESS OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.—The first Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668) ended the war carried on between France and Spain for the possession of the Spanish Netherlands (see LOUIS XIV.).—The second Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) concluded the war respecting the succession of Maria Theresa to the empire (see SUCCESSION, Wars of). In general, the possessions of the several states remained as before the war. Austria ceded Parma and Placentia to the Spanish infanta, Philip; and the possession of Silesia was guaranteed to Prussia. The privilege of the Assiento (q.v.) was anew confirmed to England for four years, and the Pretender was expelled from France.
The Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle was held in 1818, for regulating the affairs of Europe after the war. It began on the 30th September, and ended on the 21st November. Its principal object was the withdrawal from France of the army of occupation, 150,000 strong, as well as the receiving of France again into the alliance of the great powers. The emperors of Russia and Austria, and the king of Prussia, were present in person. The plenipotentiaries were—Metternich, Castlereagh and Wellington, Hardenberg and Bernstorff, Nesselrode and Capo d'Istria, with Richelieu on the part of France. The five great powers assembled signed a protocol announcing a policy known as that of the 'Holy Alliance' (q.v.).