What to See in Hildesheim - Top Sights and Attractions

11th-century church filled with artworks. Hildesheim Cathedral, officially the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary or simply St. Mary's Cathedral, is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral in the city centre of Hildesheim, Germany, that serves as the seat of the Diocese of Hildesheim. The cathedral has been on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list since 1985, together with the nearby St. Michael's Church.

The cathedral church was built between 1010 and 1020 in the Romanesque style. It follows a symmetrical plan with two apses, that is characteristic of Ottonian Romanesque architecture in Old Saxony. The cathedral's treasures include world-famous artworks, bronze works from the time of Bishop Bernward, Bernward Doors and Bernward Column, as well as two of the four notable Romanesque wheel chandeliers: the Hezilo chandelier and the Azelin chandelier.

After renovations and extensions in the 11th, 12th and 14th centuries, the cathedral was completely destroyed during an air raid on 22 March 1945 and rebuilt from 1950 to 1960. A thorough renovation of the cathedral began in 2010, including technical and conservation measures. Some of the cathedral's treasures have been shown further afield, including at an exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The cathedral was reopened on 15 August 2014.^[1]

Modern museum housing ancient treasures. The Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim is an archaeological museum in Hildesheim, Germany. Mostly dedicated to ancient Egyptian and ancient Peruvian art, the museum also includes the second largest collection of Chinese porcelain in Europe. Furthermore, the museum owns collections of natural history, ethnology, applied arts, drawings and prints, local history and arts, as well as archeology. Apart from the permanent exhibitions, the museum hosts temporary exhibitions of other archaeological and contemporary topics.

In 2000, the old building, originally built in the 1950s, was replaced by a new building, significantly increasing the space available for exhibitions.

The current museum is the result of the union of the Roemer Museum, founded in 1844 (and named after one of the founders, Herrmann Roemer), and the Pelizaeus Museum, established in 1911, that had housed the private collection of Egyptian antiques of Wilhelm Pelizaeus.^[4]

Museum in Hildesheim, Germany. The Hildesheim Cathedral Museum is the treasury and diocesan museum of Hildesheim, which illustrates over a thousand years of art and church history in Lower Saxony. It is located in historic rooms off the southern transept of the Hildesheim Cathedral. During the cathedral renovations of 2010, the nearby church of St Antonius and part of the cathedral cloisters were converted into display rooms for the museum.

The Hildesheim cathedral treasury is a collection of liturgical vessels, vestments, reliquaries, books and artworks of the highest quality, which has developed over the centuries. The Hildesheim Reliquary of Mary dates back to the beginning of the diocese and is connected to the cathedral's foundation story. Especially valuable pieces, including the gem-studded Cross of Bernward, the Bernward gospels, and the Ringelheim cross, were created during the prosperity of the diocese under Bishop Bernward († 1022), while the Ratmann Sacramentary was created in 1159 in connection with the beginning of his veneration as a saint. A bust reliquary and an arm reliquary of St Bernward date from the thirteenth century. From the baroque period comes magnificent monstrances and other gold and silver artworks. Many of these treasures are used to this day on important occasions in the cathedral calendar.

The Gobelins Artemisia came into the possession of the cathedral in 1727. It is being restored until 2015 and will have its own room in the reopened museum.

The efforts of Bishop Eduard Jakob Wedekin († 1870) converted the cathedral museum into a diocesan museum, containing religious artworks of the whole diocese and beyond. In particular he brought Gothic works from the parishes and his private collection into the cathedral treasury and organised their proper storage and display.^[7]

Monastery in Hildesheim, Germany. Marienrode Priory is a Benedictine nunnery in Marienrode, a district of Hildesheim in Germany.

An Augustinian monastery was founded here in 1125 by the Bishop of Hildesheim, Berthold I von Alvensleben, in a place then known as Baccenrode. It lasted until 1259. The site was re-settled later, at first by Augustinians and afterwards as a Cistercian monastery. The Cistercians gave the community its current name of Marienrode which has officially been used since 1439. The foundation stone of the present church was laid in 1412. The church was built in gothic style with three naves and completed in 1462. The Baroque ridge turret was added in the 18th century. In the church, there are two noteworthy baroque altars dating from 1750 approximately and a gothic sandstone sculpture of Saint Mary which was made in 1460. The organ dates from the middle of the 18th century. Most of the present buildings of the monastery consisting of sandstone were built in the 18th century. In the inner court there is a noteworthy pigeon tower. After the secularization of 1806, the monastery was used as a farm until 1987.

A small chapel of the priory, Saint Cosmas and Damian, which was built in 1792 was converted into a small Protestant church in 1830. It is not only used by the Protestants living in Marienrode, but also by those from Neuhof and Hildesheimer Wald, two districts of Hildesheim which do not have churches. The altar dates from 1835 and the organ from the end of the 18th century. According to Cistercian tradition, the chapel has a ridge turret instead of a tower.

From 1983, the new Bishop of Hildesheim, Josef Homeyer, was active in the re-establishment of monastic houses. As a result, Marienrode Priory was re-settled by ten Benedictine nuns from Eibingen Abbey on 5 May 1988. Since 1998, Marienrode has been an independent priory within the Beuronese Congregation.

Around the priory, a small village (Marienrode) developed which was incorporated into Hildesheim in 1974. The former village school which was operated by the priory was built in 1716. The windmill of Marienrode was built in 1839 and used as such until 1939. From the village it can be reached through a tree-lined avenue consisting of 200-year-old lindens, with a historic pavement. The large fishpond in the South of the village was laid out by the Cistercians in the Middle Ages.^[12]

Catholic church in Hildesheim, Germany. The Magdalenenkirche or St. Magdalenen is one of the churches in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany. The Magdalenenkirche is a Catholic church that was once a monastery church, and is situated in the old town at 25 Mühlenstraße.

Founded in 1224, the current building was consecrated in 1294, the first Gothic building in Hildesheim. Extensive rebuilding took place in the 15th century and further additions were made in the 19th century. In the fifteenth century (ca. 1416) an altarpiece was created by an unknown artist, referred to as the Meister des Göttinger Barfüßeraltars depicting scenes from the life of Mary Magdalene (Magdalenenlegende). This has since been broken up and various panels are found in different museums. One of these, the Noli me tangere is in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

The church was badly damaged in World War II on 22 March 1945 and partly restored in a simplified manner. The restoration was completed in 1961. Magdalenengarten, a baroque park laid out 1720–25, is close by. The small street Süsternstraße beside the church features a well-preserved part of the medieval city wall with a round tower.^[15]

The Thousand-year Rose is also known as the Rose of Hildesheim. It grows on the apse of the Hildesheim Cathedral, a Catholic cathedral in Hildesheim, Germany, that is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. The cathedral and the adjacent St. Michael's Church have been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites since 1985.

The rose that climbs on the wall of the cathedral's apse is believed to be the oldest living rose in the world. A wild dog rose (Rosa canina), it grows against the eastern apse of the cathedral, which is around 21 m (69 ft) high and 9 m (30 ft) wide. The rose bush reaches a height of around 10 m (33 ft) and documentation verifies its age at around 700 years. Slight variations arise in the tale of the establishment of the diocese by King Louis the Pious at Hildesheim in 815 but the rose bush is a common theme in all versions. The cathedral was destroyed by Allied bombers in 1945 during the Second World War, but the roots of the rose bush survived and it blossomed again among the ruins. According to legend, while the rose bush flourishes, Hildesheim will prosper.

A poem about the rose was published in 1896. In the early twentieth century, after visiting the cathedral and seeing the rose, author Mabel Wagnalls was inspired to write a book, which went on to form the basis of a silent film.^[18]