Gelber Stern is a historic street in

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

, a city in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Location and Length

''Gelber Stern'' is a street with 135 m in length in the Southern part of the city center. Lappenberg, the middle of the former Jewish community, is close by.

History

In a document dating from 1650 the street was mentioned for the first time. Its name was then "Geiler Stert", but the meaning of this name remains unknown. The present name "Gelber Stern" has been used since the beginning of the 19th century. Literally translated it means "Yellow Star", but most probably this name does not refer to the

Star of David The Star of David (). is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the ''seal of Solomon'', which was used for decorative ...

as the street was not a part of the Jewish community. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Gelber Stern and the streets and lanes around received comparatively little damage. Some houses were lightly damaged during air raids on 22 February 1945 and on 22 March 1945, but the damage could be repaired preserving the original style after the war.

Sights and Architecture

Gelber Stern is one of the most picturesque streets of Hildesheim as most of the buildings are half-timbered houses. Many of them were built on a sandstone base and in some houses the upper floor is larger than the ground floor. One of the most interesting is no. 21, called ''Waffenschmiedehaus'' (Armourer's House) dating from 1548 with colourful wood carvings in a

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

style. Carved inscriptions can be seen in the façades of several houses, e.g. no. 14 - 16 which were built at the end of the 16th century. A complete prayer consisting of four sentences was carved into the façade of house no. 17. The large building on the corner of Gelber Stern and Brühl is a former hospital which was built in a

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

style 1833–1840. Today it is used as a priests' seminary. The oldest half-timbered house of Hildesheim, which is used as a library today, can be visited in its inner court. It was built in a

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style at the end of the 15th century.Christiane Segers-Glocke: ''Baudenkmale in Niedersachsen, Band 14.1: Stadt Hildesheim'', p. 136. Hameln 2007.

References

{{coord missing, Lower Saxony History of Hildesheim Buildings and structures in Hildesheim Streets in Germany Tourist attractions in Hildesheim