St Michael’s Church, Hildesheim

St Michael’s in Hildesheim is the masterpiece of Ottonian architecture: a church of perfectly balanced blocks, with a choir and transept at each end, built by Bishop Bernward in the early 11th century. Inside, under a painted wooden ceiling of the early 13th century showing the family tree of Christ, it is one of the most harmonious medieval interiors in Germany. With the cathedral, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and entry is free.

Bernward’s church

Bernward, Bishop of Hildesheim from 993 to 1022, was tutor to the young Emperor Otto III and one of the great patrons of his age. On a hill outside his cathedral town he founded a Benedictine abbey and began its church around 1010; a foundation stone marked “MX” was found in 1908. The crypt was consecrated in 1015, part of the church in 1022, weeks before Bernward died, and the whole in 1033. The plan is a lesson in geometry: a nave with a transept, a crossing tower and a choir at each end, and round stair towers on the transepts.

The church became Lutheran in 1542, and the crypt with Bernward’s tomb remained Catholic, as it is today. The painted ceiling was taken down in 1943 and stored away, which saved it: in March 1945 bombs destroyed the church. It was rebuilt in stages from 1947 and completed around 1960, and the interior was restored again in 2005–10 for the church’s thousandth anniversary. UNESCO listed St Michael’s and Hildesheim Cathedral together in 1985.

The visitor’s cheat sheet

What to see

The outside

Walk around the church before you go in. From the south (pictured at the top of this page) you see Bernward’s plan at its clearest: the two transepts, the two square crossing towers and the four slender round stair turrets, like a model built of blocks. The west choir rises above the crypt where Bernward is buried.

The nave and the painted ceiling

Inside, the nave arcades follow a steady rhythm of two columns and a square pier, a pattern known as the Lower Saxon alternation. Above, the flat wooden ceiling, about 27 metres long and painted on some 1,300 oak panels, shows the Tree of Jesse: the ancestors of Christ growing from the sleeping Jesse, beginning with Adam and Eve and ending with Christ (a modern replacement of the lost final panel). Painted in the early 13th century, it is one of the very few medieval painted ceilings to survive anywhere. Bring binoculars, or lie back on a pew.

The angel choir screen and the crypt

In front of the west choir, on the north side of the crossing, look for the surviving stucco choir screen of the 1190s with its row of angels. Below the west choir is the crypt, with Bernward’s stone coffin; it belongs to the Catholic parish and is used for weekday Masses. The windows, altar and font are modern additions.

Getting there

Hildesheim is about 25 minutes by train from Hanover, with several trains an hour. From the station it is a 15-minute walk south-west through the old town to the church on its low hill. There is no visitor parking at the church. The cathedral, with Bernward’s bronze doors and column and the famous thousand-year rosebush, is about ten minutes away, and the rebuilt Marktplatz with the Knochenhaueramtshaus a few minutes more.

Don’t miss

• The painted ceiling The family tree of Christ, on 1,300 oak panels.
• The arcades Two columns, a pier, two columns.
• The angel screen Romanesque stucco angels by the west choir.
• Bernward’s crypt Beneath the west choir.
• The cathedral For the bronze doors and the rosebush.

Insider tips

More churches in Germany

• Aachen Cathedral — Charlemagne’s chapel, two centuries older, the other great early medieval church of Germany.
• Speyer Cathedral — the Salian emperors’ Romanesque cathedral, begun a generation later.
• Bamberg Cathedral — founded by Emperor Henry II, Bernward’s contemporary.

See all the German churches in this guide →