Bernward Column

Bernward Column
The Bernward Column in Hildesheim Cathedral (1893–2009)
Year	c. 1000
Type	victory column
Medium	bronze
Dimensions	3.79 m (149 in); 0.58 m diameter (23 in)
Location	Hildesheim

The Bernward Column (German: Bernwardssäule) also known as the Christ Column (German: Christussäule) is a Romanesque bronze column, made c. 1000 for the church St. Michael's in Hildesheim, Germany, and regarded as a masterpiece of Ottonian art. It was commissioned by Bernward, thirteenth bishop of Hildesheim. It depicts images from the life of Jesus, arranged in a helix similar to Trajan's Column: it was originally topped with a cross or crucifix. During the 19th century, it was moved to a courtyard and later to Hildesheim Cathedral. During the restoration of the cathedral from 2010 to 2014, it was moved back to its original location in St. Michael's, but was returned to the Cathedral in August, 2014.

The Bernward Column was made for the church of St. Michael's, Hildesheim, the foundation and final resting place of Bishop Bernward. It initially stood in the east choir, behind the altar, with a triumphal cross. This location under the triumphal arch was proposed by Gallistl using the literary sources and confirmed in 2006 by excavations. In addition, a copper-coated marble column stood in front of the altar, whose stone came from the eastern Mediterranean and, according to later sources, was a gift from Emperor Otto III to Bernward.

The altar was equated with the offering table in the forehall of the Temple of Solomon, which also stood between two columns (Boaz and Jachin). A large wheel chandelier, which was meant to have been a gift from Otto III to Bernward, hung above the Bernward Column until 1662, with a porphyry jug in the centre that was claimed to derive from the Wedding at Cana. This arrangement of a column topped with a cross, an altar and a wheel chandelier was modelled on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was also equated with the fore hall of the Temple of Solomon. Furthermore, the distance of roughly 42 metres (138 ft) between the original location of the column and the grave of Bernward in the west crypt of St. Michael's matched the distance between the Rotunda of the Resurrection and Golgotha in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, according to the reports of pilgrims.