The tree & the column: the bronze door of Hildesheim

Abstract

"The bronze doors of Hildesheim are considered a masterpiece of Ottonian art. They feature the oldest known monumental image cycle in German sculpture and also the oldest cycle of images cast in metal in Germany. Cast around 1015 for Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany, they were commissioned by Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim (938-1022) and show relief images from the Old and New Testaments. This book is a close reading of each panel of the doors and takes seriously the doors as texts that were legible to medieval viewers at multiple levels"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Facing the door -- Life -- Love -- Deformation -- Division -- Death -- Time -- Covenant -- Foundation -- Gospel -- Conversion -- Law -- Liturgy -- Evil -- Rebuilding -- Light -- Communion.