Barbarossa chandelier, Medieval wheel chandelier in Aachen Cathedral, Germany

The Barbarossa chandelier is a gilt copper wheel chandelier, 4.16 metres in diameter, suspended about four metres above the marble floor of the Carolingian Octagon in Aachen Cathedral. It hangs from a roughly 27-metre chain and is made of eight curved segments with eight large and eight small tower-like lanterns, holding 48 candles.

Frederick I commissioned the chandelier with his wife Beatrice between 1165 and 1170 as a donation to Mary, patroness of Aachen's church, and as a tribute to Charlemagne, its founder. A Latin inscription on the chandelier records Frederick's promise that its number and shape harmonise with the dimensions of the lofty temple, calling it a princely gift of light.

The chandelier's ring stands for the wall of the New Jerusalem, with eight large and eight small tower-lanterns as its gates; twelve towers were dropped to match the octagon. The lost silver figures of saints, angels and sentries once stood in the towers. On the tower base plates, visible from below, scenes from the life of Jesus are engraved, notably the eight Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount.

The chandelier hangs about four metres above the marble floor of the Carolingian Octagon, so it is seen by looking up rather than at eye level. Its 48 candles are lit only on solemn occasions. The tower base panels engraved with scenes from the life of Jesus face downwards and are best made out from directly beneath the ring.

The chain links taper from 150 mm to 130 mm in length and from 74 mm to 70 mm in width toward the bottom, so from the floor the chain appears to have the same thickness along its whole length. Guides long told visitors this was deliberate; the taper is now considered not continuous enough to support that.