Germany Guide
North Rhine-Westphalia
Schatzkammer
Address: Johannes-Paul-II Strasse
Opening time: April– Dec Mon 10am–1pm, Tues, Wed & Fri– Sun 10am–6pm, Thurs 10am–9pm; Jan– March Mon 10am–1pm, Tues– Sun 10am–5pm, first Thurs in month until 10pm
Price: €4
With such a long history, the Dom's Schatzkammer, just around the corner on, has more than its share of treasures – indeed, it's regarded as the most important religious treasury north of the Alps. The gilded silver bust of Charlemagne looking every inch the emperor is perhaps the most recognizable of the hundred or so exhibits, though as it dates from 1349 – half a millennium after his death – it's scarcely a reliable guide to what he might have looked like. Other treasures include the fabulous Lothar cross dating from around 1000 AD, and, richly adorned with gemstones, the extraordinary Dreiturmreliquiar – a triple-pinnacled fourteenth-century Gothic creation in gold – and a second-century Roman marble sarcophagus carved with scenes from the rape of Persephone.