St Michael's Hildesheim

Bishop Bernward built a Benedictine Abbey on a hill just outside the new settlement of Hildesheim between 1010 and 1022.

It is one of the purest Romanesque Churches with a double choir basilica with transepts and square towers at each end.

The Abbey was heavily damaged by bombing in 1945, and has been rebuilt "as original'.  It together with Bishop Bernward's Cathedral are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is today the Lutheran Parish Church of Hildesheim.

The painted ceiling dates from 1230 and is a remarkable survival.