St. Nicholas' Chapel () is a former

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church in the city of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is dedicated to

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

and is located in the southern part of the old city centre, opposite St. Godehard.

History

Saint Nicolas' Chapel was built in a Romanesque style in the 12th century at the same time as the monastery of Saint Godehard was built opposite. It was consecrated by Heinrich von Minden, the bishop of

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

, in 1146.

Bernard of Hildesheim Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It has West Germanic origin and is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern ...

(1130–53), the then

bishop of Hildesheim This list records the incumbents of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim (). Between 1235 and 1803 the bishops simultaneously officiating as rulers of princely rank (prince-bishop) in the Bishopric of Hildesheim, Prince-Bishopric of Hildeshei ...

was not able to consecrate it himself as he had become blind. Saint Nicolai's Chapel was used as a catholic

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

until 1542 when

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

was introduced in Hildesheim. Many inhabitants of the city, however, did not become Protestants. Saint Nicolai's Chapel, one of the smallest churches in Hildesheim, was allocated to the Protestants, who actually did not need it. At first, they used it as a stable. The church was not used as such until 1557, and there were plans to demolish it and to use the stones to repair the medieval city wall. As the monks living opposite the chapel in the monastery of St Godehard opposed the plans, St. Nicolai's Chapel was returned to the Catholic Church in 1557, but it was in very bad condition. It was renovated at various times. According to an

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

by Merian dating from 1653, it was an

aisleless church An aisleless church () is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated from the nave by col ...

with a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

and a

flèche Flèche or Fleche may refer to: * Flèche (architecture), a type of church spire * Flèche (cycling), a team cycling competition * Flèche (fencing), an aggressive offensive fencing technique * Flèche (fortification), a defensive work *, ships of ...

. The chapel was used by the monastery until 1803. In that year, it was sold to a private owner after the monastery had been dissolved during the

secularization In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

and it was transformed into a residential building. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, St. Nicolai's Chapel was slightly damaged by bombs on 22 February 1945. On 22 March 1945, however, the chapel was hit by incendiary bombs and burnt down. Only the walls remained standing, but the neighbouring half-timbered houses remained almost undamaged. St. Nicolai's Chapel was rebuilt in its original style in 1967 and is still used for residential purposes.

Architecture

Saint Nicolas' Chapel, though today a residential building, is still recognizable as a former church which facaded to the west. It was a comparatively small church consisting of one

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

with a vault.

Georg Dehio Georg Gottfried Julius Dehio (22 November 1850 – 21 March 1932), was a Baltic German art historian. In 1900, Dehio started the "''Handbuch der deutschen Kunstgeschichte''" (Handbook of German Art History), published by Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, ...

: ''Handbuch der deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Niedersachsen-Bremen'', p. 729. Munich 1992. The

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

with its

tented roof A tented roof (also known as a pavilion roof) is a type of polygonal hip roof, hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak.W. Dean EastmanHometown Handbook: Architecture./ref> Tented roofs, a hallmark of medieval religious archite ...

is in the east of the building. A part of the nave is preserved as well. The year ''1714'', which possibly refers to a renovation, is carved into the sandstone of the southern wall. The building is on the corner of ''Hinterer Brühl'' and ''Godehardsplatz'', two of the most sightworthy streets of Hildesheim, and it is surrounded by half-timbered houses which were built in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The large half-timbered house behind is a former hospital, ''Hospital zu den Fünf Wunden'' ( Hospital of the Five Wounds), dating from 1770.

External links

References

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