St. Bernward's Church is a Catholic church in the city of

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 ...

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 ...

. The name refers to the bishop Bernward of Hildesheim (960-1022) who was canonized by

Pope Celestine III Pope Celestine III ( la, Caelestinus III; c. 1106 – 8 January 1198), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 March or 10 April 1191 to his death in 1198. He had a tense relationship with several monarchs, ...

History

The church was built by the architect Richard Herzig from

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

in 1905–1907, in a

neoromanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

style. From 1895–1913, Herzig built 43 churches of this style in the diocese of Hildesheim. When St. Bernward's Church was built, the romanesque westwork of St. Andrew's Church, Hildesheim and the Cathedral of Hildesheim served as examples. The church was consecrated by bishop

Adolf Bertram Adolf Bertram (14 March 1859 – 6 July 1945) was archbishop of Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Early life Adolf Bertram was born in Hildesheim, Royal Prussian Province of Hanover (now Lower Saxony), ...

on 3 November 1907. During World War II, St. Bernward's Church was heavily damaged by bombs on 22 February 1945 The windows were destroyed, the vault and the roof collapsed. The building could no longer be used for services. Then on 22 March 1945 the church was completely destroyed by incendiary bombs. Only a part of the tower and some walls remained standing. The reconstruction was started as early as November 1948. When it was completed, St. Bernward's Church, the first destroyed church of Hildesheim to be rebuilt, was consecrated by bishop Joseph Godehard Machens in 1949.

Description

St. Bernward's Church is a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

consisting of three naves, but unlike the other churches in Hildesheim, its

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

and the altar are in the north of the building. The church facades to the south. The tower, which looks very similar to the tower of the Cathedral, is placed at the southern end. St. Bernward's Church houses several sightworthy pieces of art. The

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 ...

retable A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate structur ...

showing various saints and the

Coronation of the Virgin The Coronation of the Virgin or Coronation of Mary is a subject in Christian art, especially popular in Italy in the 13th to 15th centuries, but continuing in popularity until the 18th century and beyond. Christ, sometimes accompanied by God th ...

dates from 1430.Hans Freter: ''Schatzkammer Hildesheim'', p. 49. Hildesheim 1993. It originally stood in ''Trinitatishospital'', a hospital which was founded in 1230 and destroyed in 1945. There is also a remarkable statue representing Saint Bernward holding a Bernward Cross in his hand. The golden Bernward Cross which was made about 1130 is one of the most famous items in the museum of the Cathedral of Hildesheim.

References

{{coord, 52, 09, 25, N, 9, 56, 57, E, region:DE-NI_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Bernward Bernward Hildesheim Bernward