The Guardian of 1,200 Years of History

It is the city’s landmark: For more than 1,200 years, Aachen Cathedral, the former palatine chapel of Charlemagne, has towered above the city. Such an important structure requires a great deal of maintenance — a task that cathedral architect Helmut Maintz has been carrying out, with heart and soul, for more than 35 years. Born in Aachen, he completed his civil engineering studies of FH Aachen's Faculty of Civil Engineering with a Diplom degree in 1982. Just a few years later, he joined the cathedral construction site management, where he remains to this day. His main task: the preservation and maintenance of the cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Here, he and his colleagues at the Cathedral Construction Workshop (Dombauhütte) are assisted by state-of-the-art technology: engineers from the Faculty of Civil Engineering, for example, created a precise 3-D model of the cathedral with the help of drone images, and, in the decades to come, it will be possible to check whether filigree details have changed due to weathering.

Furthermore, the Cathedral Construction Workshop uses so-called photogrammetry, in which every single stone is recorded and measured. Additionally, the smallest defects and cracks can be detected with the help of radar and ultrasound. This is a great advantage for the cathedral architect, as it makes determining the material, the age of the building as well as the type and intensity of damage possible.

When the tall, robust man talks about "his" cathedral, there's a sparkle in his eyes - and that speaks volumes. Helmut Maintz loves the cathedral. One of his many favourite places, he says, is at the very top, the lantern on the central building, high above the roofs of Aachen. From this vantage point, you can see the tower and choir hall, but also the town hall, Katschhof, and Domsingschule. The hustle and bustle of the city seems miles away. "When I want to have some peace and quiet, I come up here," he says. Just about the only thing that could disturb him would be the pair of falcons that have been nesting up here for many years now.