HILDESHEIM, hil'dr•s-liim. The former cap ital of the Bishopric of Hildesheim. in the Prus sian Province of Hanover. situated on the In ner,te. 21 miles south-southeast of Hanover (Map: Prussia. C 2). Tt has narrow streets, old monuments, some quaint, mediaeval. highly orna mented facades, is partly surrounded by lofty walls, and contains many excellent examples of architecture owing to its having been a German home of the Romanesque and Renaissance art, including pa rticu la rly t he Barber features. 'Hie Catholic cathedral, erected in the eleventh century and greatly modified, is built partly in the Romanesque and partly in the bite gothic. Its ancient cloisters are exceptional ly curious and interesting. Its treasury is rich in ohjeets ill' live, of Plante tongue, Bishop Iternwald, and others. The brass doors and bronze Easter column are richly orna mented with (here are also a number of gilded sarcophagi. including that of Bishop (.ode hard. Against the wall of the cathedral stands a rose-bush which is 25 feet high and reputed to be a thousand years old. Two of the best examples of Romanesque architecture in Germany are the Catholic Church of Saint Godchard, erected in the twelfth eentury and recently restored—a basilica-shaped edifice surmounted by three tower, —and the large Protestant Church of Saint by Bishop Berliwald at the be• ginning of the eleventh century, and containing his tomb. Saint Michael has an interesting in terior, with good mediaeval ceiling paintings.
Hildesheini contains also a number of inter esting secular buildings:, notably the fifteenth (entory late-Gothic Rathaus. adorned with rare frescoes by I'rell, and possessing valuable archives; and the former butchers' regarded as perhaps the finest wooden building in Germany. There is an interesting mediaeval public square—.1Itstlidter .1Ia•kt. The eat irons are pleasant. and not without interest. in re cent times ITildesheint has been brought into special prominence by the collection of elaborate Ronan silver plate (known as the Ilildesliciincr Sitberschatz) dis•overed near the town in 1868.
The collection consists of a complete service for three persons (69 pieces), and is believed to be long to the Augustan age. It is in the Berlin :Museum. The educational institutions of Ifil desheim include a Catholic Gymnasium, founded as a eathydral scnool in the ninth century, a Protestant (;yninasimn, dating from the Middle Ages. a seminary for teachers, a theo logical seminary, an agricultural school, etc. There are also two museums of art and anti quities, including the valnahle ROmer Museum, and a municipal library of about 30.000 vol umes. llildesheim manufaetures iron produets, tobacco, sugar, cotton and woolen g•iods, ma chinery, church bells, carpets. wagons, glass, stoves, etc. The chief articles of commerce are grain, wool, leather. and building materials. Population. in 1890. 33,481; in 1900, 42.973, in cluding 14.300 Catholics, The town existed before the ninth century. It came into great prominence after it wits made in 81S the seat of the Bishopric of Hildesheitn. Under Bishop Bernwald (993-1022) became famous for its fine ecclesiastical buildings and religious art productions exeeuted tinder the supervi-ion of the Bishop. In the thirteenth tury the town joined the Hanseatic League and acquired considerable privileges. After continuous struggles with its bishops Ifildesheim came. upon the secularization of the bishopric, into the hands of Prussia in 1803. was annexed to 1Vestphalia in 1807. and to Hanover in 1131:3, and with Han over passed to Prussia in 18(36. Consult: Wachs ninth, Geschiehte von Hoehstift and Rtadt Hil dcsheim (Ilildesheim, 18'63) ; Bauer, Geschichte von Hildesheim (ib., 1S91); Holzer, Der [Hides heimer antike Rilberfund lib., 1870) ; Lachner, Die Holzarehitektur Hildeshcims (ib., 1882).