St Michaels Church Germany

The St. Michael’s Church, Germany is known as Michaeliskirche in German. St. Michael’s is located in Hildesheim in Germany. This is an early Romanesque church, which has been on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list since 1985. Constructed between 1001 and 1031 under the direction of Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim (993 – 1022 AD) as the chapel of his Benedictine monastery. St. Michael’s Church, Germany was named after the Archangel Michael’s, the Christian angel of death. The nomenclature was done by Bishop Bernward himself, for he planned to be buried in the St. Michael’s Church. However, the plan could not be realized during his death in 1022, viz. 11 years before the St. Michael’s church was consecrated.

The successor of Bernward, Godehard, transferred the remains of Bernward to the crypt after the St. Michael’s Church, Germany was completed. After the Reformation was adopted in Hildesheim in 1542, St. Michael’s Church followed Protestantism, until it was secularized in 1803. However, the church and its crypt that were used by the priests remain Catholic till date. St. Michael’s Church was destroyed in an air raid in WWII, but was restored by 1957. In 1985, St. Michael’s became a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.

The architecture of St. Michael’s Church is notable for its Ottonic or Early Romanesque style. It is a double choir basilica with twin transepts and a square tower at each crossing. The west choir is emphasized by an ambulatory and a crypt. There is space for skylight to penetrate though the Gothic windows of the lower aisles beyond the walkway. St. Michael’s Church is situated at the western rim of the center of Hildesheim, on the St. Michael’s Hill. In the south and east of the Hill you can access the Hildesheim downtown. The Gymnasium Andreanum School lies to the west of the church, along with the River Innerste.