St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Michael's Church

St. Mary’s Cathedral and St. Michael’s Church are located in Hildesheim in north central Germany. The two locations became part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. St. Mary’s Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral built between 1010 and 1020 and exhibits Romanesque architecture that is characteristic across Europe dating from the medieval period. The cathedral was renovated several times since its construction and was completely destroyed in 1945 during world war II. It was reconstructed in the 1950’s. Inside the cathedral is a large collection of medieval art and treasure. This collection includes a 6 foot diameter gold candelabrum from 1060, and metal statue of an eagle with a dragon in its claws from the 1200’s, two golden shrines dating back to the 1100’s with artifacts from the founding patrons of the church, a bronze pillar from 1020 depicting pictures from the life of Jesus, a 15^th century statue of Mary, a bronze font, and giant bronze doors created in 1015 that depict scenes from the old and new testament. The cathedral also has a crypt and a courtyard with two chapels. One last attraction to the Cathedral is a rose bush that is said to be over 1000 years old and still blooming. When the cathedral was destroyed during WWII the debris fell on the rose and kept the roots from burning and started blooming again two weeks late. The rose tree has become a symbol for the church and for the city of Hildesheim.

St. Michaels Church and Benedictine monastery was built around the same time as the Cathedral in Hildesheim. In the mid 1500’s, during the reformation, St. Michaels church became Protestant but the monastery remained catholic until the 1800s. The crypt remains catholic today though and is the burial place of the founder Bishop Bernward. Like the cathedral, St. Michaels was destroyed during an air raid in WWII and was rebuilt in the 1950s. The church in built in Ottonic style on a hill in Hildesheim. The church is built with two towers and is in the shape of a cross. As mentioned earlier, it was built with a crypt and the ceiling was painted, showing the genealogical tree Jesus across its 30m length.