Today free entrance to the museums of this town that is famous also for the remains of the Emperor Charlemagne (who died in 814) that are preserved in a golden coffin in the town’s Gothic Cathedral, behind another golden chest that contains four relics of Christianity (including the garment of the Virgin and the shroud of the beheading of St. John the Baptist) brought to Aquisgrana by Charlemagne, who had chosen Aquisgrana as his country of adoption. Quite famous is the pilgrimage which is made every seven years since 1349 to see the holy relics. The next appointment is for June 2007. The cathedral, whose construction began in 800, has a special octagonal structure and consists of several floors. The second floor houses Charlemagne’s stone throne on which, from 936 to 1531, thirty kings and twelve queens were crowned. For this historic background, Aquisgrana is considered to be the "emblem of Europe", says Msgr. Mussinghoff, "because this is where the idea of a united Europe first came into being". The town is considered to be a destination for Christian pilgrims just like Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela.
