A luxury class brooch

How do you fasten your jacket? Button? Zipper? An empress used a brooch like this one. Although the outstanding goldsmith's work with the impressive enamel inlays also shows Byzantine influences in several respects, e.g. through the use of the eagle figure, it was probably made in a West German or Rhineland workshop around 1000 AD. Similar workmanship in other finds supports this assumption.

The depiction of the eagle is a symbol that was reserved exclusively for the ruling elite. The Mainz eagle brooch can therefore be regarded as the jewelry of an empress and is one of the most magnificent examples of medieval goldsmithing.

It was found in 1880 in the city of Mainz during canal construction work. The construction workers initially tried to sell the brooch and conceal its location. However, subsequent investigations revealed that it had been found amidst the remains of walls of medieval cellars in the medieval settlement center of Mainz.