Hildesheim
Undiscovered Germany series
Berlin and Munich are well known tourist destinations. The Rhine is fairly well trodden territory, too. But there's an awful lot of Germany that is hardly visited at all. And that's not because it's boring. There are 31 UNESCO World Heritage sites in the country, to start with. In this series we'll be taking a look at some of these, from the Hanseatic cities of the Baltic coast to the rococo splendour of Bavaria.
First up is Hildesheim - a jewel of the Romanesque, albeit much rebuilt after an air raid late in World War II destroyed nearly three-quarters of the city. There are two splendid Romanesque churches, for a start - but even more importantly they contain paintings and metalwork whose survival is miraculous. And it's all within walking distance of the station.
It's all down to Bishop Bernwald. He was in charge of Hildesheim from 993 to 1022, and set about making it a centre of cultural excellence. He commissioned the church of St Michael, as well as set of fine bronze doors for the cathedral. His successor, Godehard, carried on the good work; they were both canonised, and seeing their work nearly a thousand years later, I think they deserved it.
St Michael is a double-ended
church, with two apts and two sets o
f transepts - a monumental church with
six towers, looking from the outside like a fortress of the faith. But inside,
what strikes you most is the painted ceiling, a flat wooden ceiling which
was decorated just after 1200 and still glows with strong reds and greens.
It's a tree of Jesse, showing the descendants of Jesus, and the iconographical
scheme is well worked out - an educated cleric certainy had a hand in it.
Romanesque painted vaults are rare enough. This ceiling is certainly the only one of its kind in Germany, and I don't know of another in Europe. But even more rare and delightful is the plaster work in the south aisle, dating from Bishop Adelog's rebuilding of 1186. It's amazing that such a delicate material has survived the centuries - even though what you see today is less than a third of the original decoration, which covered much of the church.
From St Michael's it's a short walk to the Cathedral. At first sight it may be disappointing - it was extensively reconstructed after the Second World War, and doesn't have the patina of antiquity. But it contains some of the most precious metalwork of the Romanesque period, and that is fine indeed - and original.
In 1015 Bishop Bernwald commissioned the pair of bronze doors, cast - amazingly - in a single piece each, rather than as a series of panels. As at St Michael's, the iconography is sophisticated - scenes of the Creation and the Fall of Man run from the top down on the left, and the life of Christ is shown on the right hand door, from bottom to top. The allusion to Fall and Ascension in the movement of the images couldn't be clearer. But panels on the right and left hand are also nicely matched in theme.
There may even be a hidden message. Recent research suggests that the portrayal of Eve as a sexually provocative woman and the cause of all evil may reflect Bernward's own struggle with the powerful Abbess Sophia of Gandersheim.
The doors are good enough - but that's not all. Bernwald had been to Rome
- where he may have got the idea for his doors from the wooden carved doors
of St Sabina - and must have seen Trajan's Column in the Roman forum. That
commemorates a Roman emperor's victory - instead, Bernwald adapted the form
to show the triumph of the heavenly emperor, Christ.
Hildesheim isn't all Romanesque
though. It also has a marvellous collection of half-timbered houses around
the tiny market place. Among these, the Knochenhauer-Amtshaus - Butcher's
Guild Hall - is pre-eminent - six storeys of jettied half timber under a
high gable, decorated with painted wood carvings. It's a fake - reconstructed
from detailed plans of the original, but despite its apparent age it only
dates from the 1980s. It was rebuilt in the original style though - without
using a single nail; it is held together entirely by wooden pegs. And while
the façade is an authentic reconstruction, the paintings on the side
of the building are quite modern - refreshingly honest!
It is rather wonderful to think of the work and expense involved. Even more
wonderful that the citizens of Hildesheim decided it was worth it to have
the Guild Hall back. So it's good to know that the rose bush growing on
the cathedral apse - a thousand years old already - is still in good health;
since the legend says that as long as the rose bush flourishes, so will
the city.