Copper has the advantage that unlike iron, which will be consumed completely by rust when exposed to humid air, the oxidation speed slows down with an increasing thickness of the oxidized layer (formed of copper carbonates), until further oxidation becomes negligible.
It is interesting to me that a good chunk of Western Europe was already united once before and fell apart again. You only really realize how large the territory he ruled over was when you find out in how many languages they have a localized name for him and that in general the impression was not so much of a conqueror (which he definitely was) but a uniter. And it's well over a thousand years ago.
edit: Oh, another funny thing: To this day there are people trying to trace their family linkage with Charlemagne, or "Karel De Grote" as he's called here.
Well, he was marketing himself as the uniter of the western roman empire which was still remembered around. also, many of those who considered him a conqueror didn't live long enough to pass their attitude.
This post brought back some good memories! I lived in hh for 3 years .. quite close to the rathaus in harvestehude .. and used to walk past it all the time on my way to buy cigars at la casa del habano in chilehaus .. its a stunning building, and the pics really dont do justice to just how massive and imposing it is in person ... even more impressive when u think it was built in the late 1800 ..
I first toured the Hamburg Rathaus shortly after playing the recent Indiana Jones game. My most salient observation was that the Rathaus interior was a dead ringer for the Vatican interior spaces in that game: Wide marble gilded and red-carpeted staircases, walls made of art and covered in art with bas-relief everywhere, even the same hardwoods used everywhere as far as I could tell.
It was fascinating to see the shiny copper oxidize over a relatively short space of time.
https://www.rathaus.bremen.de/rathausdachsanierung-2016-3196...
edit: Oh, another funny thing: To this day there are people trying to trace their family linkage with Charlemagne, or "Karel De Grote" as he's called here.