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The Barbarossa chandelier (German: Barbarossaleuchter) was made on the order of Emperor Frederick I, nicknamed Barbarossa and his wife Beatrice sometime between 1165 and 1170 and was installed under the cupola of the Palatine Chapel in Aachen Cathedral.
The son of Ulric Antoine de Hoensbroeck (whose family originated in the village of Hoensbroeck, now in Dutch Limburg), he studied at Heidelberg and became a canon in the cathedral chapter of Aachen Cathedral before becoming prince bishop of Liege in 1784, succeeding François-Charles de Velbrück, whose progressive reforms he tried to undo.
The chandelier was a donation in honour of Mary, Mother of God, the patroness of Aachen Cathedral and simultaniously represented a tribute to the builder of the cathedral, Charlemagne.