Hildesheim - St. Andreas

Louis the Pious founded the bishopric of Hildesheim in 815. The settlement developed into a town and was granted market rights by King Otto III in 983. Craftsmen and merchants were attracted and the city developed into an important community. By 1167, Hildesheim was an almost completely walled market settlement.

At the beginning of the 13th century, Hildesheim had about 5,000 inhabitants, and when Hildesheim received its city charter in 1249, it was one of the largest cities in northern Germany. The clergy ruled Hildesheim for four centuries before a town hall was built and the citizens gained influence and independence. In 1367, Hildesheim became a member of the Hanseatic League. But what is now called Hildesheim was various small "suburbs". After centuries of (sometimes armed) disputes, it was not until the end of the 16th century that a union was created and subsequently at least the inner wall was taken down Old and New Town.
During the Thirty Years' War, Hildesheim was besieged and occupied several times. In 1813, after the Napoleonic Wars, the town became part of the Kingdom of Hanover, which was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia as a province after the Austro-Prussian War in 1866.

The air raids on Hildesheim in 1944/45 destroyed large parts of the city. Of the 1500 half-timbered houses, only 200 remained. 90 percent of the historic old town was destroyed in the firestorm.

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The earliest church building here was a simple pre-Romanesque chapel, which already existed at the death of Bishop Bernward in 1022. During the Romanesque period, the center of the market and workshops was relocated to near St. Andreas and the chapel was subsequently replaced with a romanesque church with a strong westwork.

The building of the gothic church, in the basilica style and romanesque westwork, was begun at the end of the 14th century. By 1504, the nave with its side altars was finished and all that remained to be completed was the tower. This was only done in 1883-1890 when the tower reached its current height of about 114m.

St. Andreas represented bourgeois self-confidence in the High Middle Ages in comparison to the lordship of the Bishops, manifested in the cathedral. During the Reformation, St. Andreas became the first church in Hildesheim to support Lutheranism in 1542.

The church burned down during WWII in March 1945, and only the ruined outer wall remained standing. From 1956-1965, St. Andreas was completely rebuilt as an almost exact copy of the original.

The "Arneken Altar", a work from the Riemenschneider school in Osterode, was created for the chapel of the Arnekenhospital in 1587. Since 2013, it is part of the inventory of St. Andreaskirche.

The central picture shows on a patterned gold background "the holy clan", i.e. a group of blood relatives of Jesus.

Mary holds Jesus, who reaches for an apple in Mary`s right hand. To Mary's, left are her mother Anna, and Elizabeth, Mary's friend. To the side of Anna stands her husband Joachim and to Mary's right Joseph.