Hildesheim

A millennium ago, Hildesheim, in northern Germany, was one of the ecclesiastical centers of Western Europe. Under the patronage of Ottonian emperors, who ruled from A.D. 919 to 1014, it was a city of churches, the outstanding one being its grand cathedral, packed with art advertising the glory of God and kings. And because, for both, only the best would do, Hildesheim developed a top-class art industry. Its metal-casting workshops were superbly innovative; illuminated books poured from its scriptoria.

Although almost none of the work can be attributed to individual artists, the name of one man hovers in the air, that of Bernward, bishop of Hildesheim from A.D. 993 to 1022. Of noble Saxon lineage, he was more than a high-ranking cleric. He was a cosmopolitan traveler, a court fixture, a cultural impresario, a serial self-promoter and, eventually, a canonized saint. He was also one of the great shaping art patrons of his day, and possibly an artist himself.

His major architectural project in Hildesheim was the Benedictine church of St. Michael, for which he famously commissioned a set of immense bronze doors, each covered with narrative reliefs.

(Thanks to NY Times writer Holland Cotter)