The best city hikes and walks in Städteregion Aachen

.. .. beautiful old town

Plaque on the gate wall: "The carving Pennsoldat (soldier) is reminiscent of the Aachen city militia, which was stationed here to guard the marching gate. To supplement their meager guard pay, the guardsmen carved thin wooden pegs (dialectally Penn) for shoe soles. As a parody of the armed city soldiers, popularly called Pennsoldaten, Aachen's oldest carnival club was founded on March 3, 1857, under the name Stadtgarde Oecher Penn von 1857 e.V.". https://skulpturen.kulturraum.nrw/aachen/klaus-gehlen/pennsoldat.html

Aachen Hl. Kreuz... Today's municipal affiliation: Aachen Parish history: Establishment: 1804 "The parish of Aachen Heilig-Kreuz was established with the first delimitation of the first diocese of Aachen on March 1, 1804, by Bishop Marcus Antonius Berdolet. As patrons of the "Kreuzherrn-Kirche" (Church of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross), the bishop named St. Martyr Julianus and SS. Martyrs Odilia and Sebastianus. The former Canon Regular Franz Xaver Lahaye was appointed as parish priest (until 1812). The monastery church of the dissolved monastery of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross served as the parish church. A predecessor of this church, a Julianus chapel from the 14th century, had been donated in 1372 by its owner, Mrs. Gertrud von Bongard, to the Canons Regular Stephan von Schonhoven and Johann von Aachen. Parochially, it belonged to the parish of the Münsterstift in the deanery of Maastricht, archdeaconry of Hespengau (Hasbania) of the Diocese of Liège. Bishop Berdolet divided the city of Aachen into three sections. Heilig Kreuz was assigned to the third section under St. Nikolaus as the main parish. In 1827, in the re-established Archdiocese of Cologne, the division into deaneries was carried out as before. In 1936, Heilig Kreuz was assigned to the new deanery of Aachen-Südwest and on August 23, 1973, to the new deanery of Aachen-Nordwest. On May 1, 1960, the parish of St. Sebastian was separated from the mother parish of Heilig Kreuz." From: Handbuch des Bistums Aachen. Third edition, ed. by the Episcopal General Vicariate of Aachen, Aachen 1994, p. 130. https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/deutschland/aachen/aachen-hl-kreuz/ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiligkreuz_(Aachen) https://charlie.aachen-tourismus.de/poi/heilig-kreuz-kirche

Acropolis of Aachen: Columns that tell of a vanished Belvedere On the Lousberg, you'll encounter a small colonnade that evokes past times. The antique-looking columns are the last remnants of the Belvedere garden restaurant, which was a popular meeting place until its destruction in World War II. Today, they stand freely in the greenery, lending the place an almost unexpected lightness. As you walk through the rows of these stone fragments, you can feel some of the atmosphere that once attracted guests. The silent presence of the columns leaves room for your own thoughts and makes the Lousberg a place where past and present merge. https://charlie.aachen-tourismus.de/poi/akropolis-von-aachen

The Aachen Cathedral, officially the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary of Aachen, is the bishop's church of the Diocese of Aachen and the most important landmark of the city of Aachen. The cathedral is placed under the patronage of Mary, Mother of God. https://www.denkmalschutz.de/denkmal/aachener-dom.html https://www.aachenerdom.de/

The Aachen Cathedral is for me the most beautiful building in Germany. You definitely have to go inside. The mosaics on the ceilings are beautiful and the two shrines sparkle in their gold.

Aachen Cathedral is a must-see.

Aachen Cathedral is an absolute "must-see". I have rarely seen such a beautiful cathedral from the inside.