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St. Michael's Church, Hildesheim

Coordinates: 52°09′10″N 09°56′37″E / 52.15278°N 9.94361°E / 52.15278; 9.94361
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St. Michael's
Church of St. Michael's
Michaeliskirche or St. Michaelis
St. Michaelis in 2009, view from southeast
St. Michael's is located in Lower Saxony
St. Michael's
St. Michael's
St. Michael's is located in Germany
St. Michael's
St. Michael's
52°09′10″N 09°56′37″E / 52.15278°N 9.94361°E / 52.15278; 9.94361
LocationHildesheim
CountryGermany
Denominationsimultaneum (Lutheran and Catholic)
Websitemichaelis-hildesheim.wir-e.de/kirche
History
Statusparish church
Dedication
Consecrated1022
Architecture
Functional statusactive
Architectural typebasilica with 2 quires and 2 transepts
StyleRomanesque
Gothic (southern side windows)
Groundbreakinglate 10th century
Completedlate 12th century (late 12th century)
Specifications
Lengthoverall: 74.75 metres (245.2 ft)
nave between crossings: 27.34 metres (89.7 ft)
transepts: 40.01 metres (131.3 ft)
Widthnave: 22.75 metres (74.6 ft)
transepts: 11.38 metres (37.3 ft)
Nave width8.6 metres (28 ft), centre nave
Nave height16.7 metres (55 ft)
Number of spires2 crossing towers and 4 side towers
Bells10
Administration
SynodLutheran Church of Hanover, Diocese of Hildesheim
DeaneryHildesheim-Sarstedt (Kirchenkreis), Hildesheim (Dekanat)
ParishKirchengemeinde St. Michaelis, Hildesheim (Lutheran), Pfarrgemeinde St. Godehard, Hildesheim (Catholic)
Clergy
ProvostLand Superintendent Eckhard Gorka [de], Hildesheim-Göttingen diocese [de]
Official nameSt Michael's Lutheran Church
Part ofSt Mary's Cathedral and St Michael's Church at Hildesheim
CriteriaCultural: (i), (ii), (iii)
Reference187bis-001
Inscription1985 (9th Session)
Extensions2008
Area0.58 ha (1.4 acres)
Buffer zone157.68 ha (389.6 acres)

The Church of St. Michael (German: Michaeliskirche) is an early-Romanesque church in Hildesheim, Germany. It has been on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list (along with the nearby Hildesheim Cathedral) since 1985 due to its Romanesque architecture and art that can be found within, such as the Tree of Jesse and the now relocated Bernward doors. Now, St. Michael a shared church due to the Protestant reformation, with the main area of the church being Lutheran and the crypt being Roman Catholic.

History

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Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim (996–1022) commissioned this Benedictine monastery which was to be constructed on a hill linked with the archangel Michael just half a kilometer north of the city walls of his seat (Hildesheim). The creation of the church began in 1010 and the unfinished monastery was dedicated to the Archangel Michael on the archangel's feast day (29 September), by Bernward in 1022, mere weeks before his death. Along with Bernward's significant influence on the building of the Abbey, he was personally trained in bronze casting as well as other professions including "painting and metalwork" which he honed during his time as a private tutor to Otto lll.[1] This knowledge proved valuable when he took a leading role in the creation of the church.

After Bernward's death, construction was continued under his successor, Bishop Godehard (died 1038), who completed the work in 1031 and reconsecrated the church to Michael on 29 September of that year. After the church's completion, Godehard transported Bernward's remains from their original resting place to the crypt of the Abbey after its completion in 1033.[2]

The church has double choirs east and west, double tripartite transepts at either end of the nave, and six towers—two large ones over the crossings east and west, and four other tall and narrow ones attached to the small sides of the two transepts. The eastern choir featured three apses, and the west had a deep chapel with a huge single apse rising high over an elaborate cross-vaulted hall crypt with an ambulatory. Bishop Bernward's remains were placed in the western crypt.

The monastery comprised a church family and had two other sanctuaries dedicated to Martin and the Holy Cross lying in the cloister that extended northward from St. Michael's north flank. The monastery and church opened southward toward the city of Hildesheim, its south flank comprising a facade of a sort. It seems likely that the monastery on the Hill of St. Michael was surrounded by a wall.[3]

In 1186, after a reconstruction following a fire, Hildesheim's Bishop Adelog of Dorstedt – assisted by Tammo, Prince-Bishop of Verden – reconsecrated St. Michael's.

During the Reformation ca. 1542, with the support of governmental bodies overseeing Hildesheim, newly empowered Lutheran Protestants began to systematically overtake parts of the church and left very little to the previously administrative monastic body.[4] Under this new ownership, much of the structural elements of the church were damaged, but with the help of modern technology, many of these places in the church affected by a lack of maintenance have been cared for, and much of the church has been rebuilt to emulate its former appearance.[4]

St. Michael's Church also was heavily damaged by a British air raid on 22 March 1945. Reconstruction on the church began in 1950 and was completed in 1957.

Architecture

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St. Michael's Church is a double-choir basilica with two transepts and a square tower at each crossing. The west choir is emphasized by an ambulatory and a crypt. Nikolaus Pevsner wrote that St. Michael's "is the earliest surviving example of a truly Romanesque exterior."[5]

The ground plan of the building follows a geometrical conception, in which the square of the transept crossing in the ground plan constitutes the key measuring unit for the entire church. The square units are defined by the alternation of columns and piers. Pevsner described this as a "more thorough 'metrical system' " than found in any prior Romanesque architecture.[6]

During his time as Otto's tutor, it is recorded that Bernward visited Rome and lived there for a time.[7] During this time abroad, Bernward would have taken notice to the Early Christian Basilicas in Rome which were notorious for their unexciting interiors at this time.[7] Through the many architectural feats and intricacies found in the church such as the Tree of Jesse and the Bernward doors, we see the Bishop completely rejecting this practice of monotony.

The ceiling of the church is decorated with a fresco, 27.6 m long and 8.7 m wide, depicting the Tree of Jesse, the ancestral line of Jesus.[8] This artwork, created around 1130, was created using over 1,300 oak planks and was heavily restored to its current form in 2010.[2]

The famous Bernward Doors, which feature bronze reliefs of scenes from the Bible, were most likely commissioned after 1008, and were originally ordered for St. Michael's but are now found at the nearby Cathedral of Hildesheim.[9] These incredibly detailed doors depict 16 scenes in total and begin with scenes on the left with stories of Genesis and move into New Testament depictions on the right.[10] The doors were crafted in this way to allow the viewer the opportunity to see the decline and Holy Redemption of humanity through Christ's resurrection.[10] Also, many of these stories depicted in the doors were almost certainly drawn from works Bernward himself encountered on his various travels.[10]

  • The Bernward Column in St. Michael's (before 1810); reconstruction by Carpiceci/Gallistl
    The Bernward Column in St. Michael's (before 1810); reconstruction by Carpiceci/Gallistl
  • St. Michael's from inside before restoration 2005
    St. Michael's from inside before restoration 2005
  • The Woehl-organ from 1999
    The Woehl-organ from 1999
  • The wooden ceiling, together with the wooden ceilings of Zillis (Switzerland) and Dädesjö (Sweden), is one of the few monumental panel paintings of the high Middle Ages that have survived.
    The wooden ceiling, together with the wooden ceilings of Zillis (Switzerland) and Dädesjö (Sweden), is one of the few monumental panel paintings of the high Middle Ages that have survived.
  • St. Michael's from inside after complete restoration between 2005 and 2010
    St. Michael's from inside after complete restoration between 2005 and 2010

Measurements

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  • Total length: 74.75 m
  • Total length of the transepts: 40.01 m
  • Total width of the transepts: 11.38 m
  • Length of the crypt: 18.36 m
  • Length of the nave: 27.34 m
  • Width of the nave incl. lower aisles: 22.75 m
  • Width of the nave without lower aisles: 8.60 m
  • Height of the nave without lower aisles: 16.70 m
  • Thickness of the walls: 1.63 m

Location

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Aerial view of St. Michael's Church on the Michaelishügel

St. Michael's Church is situated at the Western rim of the city centre of Hildesheim, on the so-called Michaelishügel ("St. Michael's Hill"). The main entrance to the Church is on the south side. Magdalenengarten, a baroque park, is very close to the church in the west. The cloister is also accessible from there. It leads to the Church's contemporary (administrative) buildings. From the south and east of the Hill is Hildesheim's downtown, to the west is the River Innerste and in the north the Gymnasium Andreanum school.

Burials

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Cohen, Adam S., and Anne Derbes. “Bernward and Eve at Hildesheim.” Gesta, vol. 40, no. 1, 2001, pp. 20. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/767193. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
  2. ^ a b Aubrey, Dennis. “Saint Michael’s Church, Hildesheim (Jong-Soung Kimm).” Vialucispress.Wordpress.Com, 7 June 2013, vialucispress.wordpress.com/2012/04/08/saint-michaels-church-hildesheim-jong-soung-kimm/.
  3. ^ Gerhard Lutz and Angela Weyer, eds., 1000 Jahre St. Michael in Hildesheim (Hildesheim: Hornemann Institut der HAWK, 2012)
  4. ^ a b Krüger, Kristina. (2019). St Michael’s at Hildesheim: Scripture Networks and the Perception of Sacred Space: The Interlacing of Real Places and Conceptual Spaces in Medieval Art and Architecture. 10.1515/9783110629156-006. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330446198_St_Michael's_at_Hildesheim_Scripture_Networks_and_the_Perception_of_Sacred_Space_The_Interlacing_of_Real_Places_and_Conceptual_Spaces_in_Medieval_Art_and_Architecture
  5. ^ Pevsner, Nikolaus (1953). An Outline of European Architecture (5th ed.). Penguin. p. 51.
  6. ^ Pevsner 1953, pp. 43–44.
  7. ^ a b Watkin, David. A history of Western architecture. London, Laurence King Publishing, 2005, pp. 118-119. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Western_Architecture/39T1zElEBrQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=history+of+st.+michael%27s+church+at+hildesheim&pg=PA118&printsec=frontcover
  8. ^ "St Mary's Cathedral and St Michael's Church at Hildesheim". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Hildesheim Cathedral". Sacred Destinations. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  10. ^ a b c Cohen, Adam S., and Anne Derbes. “Bernward and Eve at Hildesheim.” Gesta, vol. 40, no. 1, 2001, pp. 19–38. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/767193. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
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