There is one thing astonishing--that is, the largeness of the skull and
arm. Charlemagne was, in fact, colossal with respect to size of body as
well as extraordinary mental endowments. The son of Pepin-le-Bref was in
body, as in mind, gigantic; of great corporeal strength, and of
astounding intellect.

An inspection of this armory has a strange effect upon the antiquary.
Besides the skull and arm, it contains the heart of Charlemagne; the
cross which the emperor had round his neck in his tomb; a handsome
ostensorium, of the Renaissance, given by Charles the Fifth, and
spoiled, in the last century, by tasteless ornaments; fourteen richly
sculptured gold plates, which once ornamented the arm-chair of the
emperor; an ostensorium, given by Philippe the Second; the cord which
bound our Savior; the sponge that was used upon the cross; the girdle of
the Holy Virgin, and that of the Redeemer.

In the midst of innumerable ornaments, heaped up in the armory like
mountains of gold and precious stones, are two shrines of singular
beauty. One, the oldest, which is seldom opened, contains the remaining
bones of Charlemagne, and the other, of the twelfth century, which
Frederick Barbarossa gave to the church, holds the relics, which are
exhibited every seven years. A single exhibition of this shrine, in
1696, attracted 42,000 pilgrims, and drew, in ten days 80,000 florins.
This shrine has only one key, which is in two pieces; the one is in the
possession of the chapter, the other in that of the magistrates of the
town. Sometimes it is opened on extraordinary occasions, such as on the
visit of a monarch....

The tomb, before it became the sarcophagus of Charlemagne, was, it is
said, that of Augustus. After mounting a narrow staircase, my guide