| Bernward Doors | |
|---|---|
 The image side of the bronze doors of theHildesheim Cathedral, showing scenes from theBook of Genesis on the left leaf, from top to bottom, and from the life ofJesus on the right leaf, from bottom to top | |
 | |
| Year | c. 1015 (1015) |
| Type | Ottonian art |
| Medium | Bronze |
| Location | Hildesheim, Germany |
| Coordinates | 52°08′56″N9°56′47″E / 52.1489°N 9.9464°E /52.1489; 9.9464 |
TheBernward Doors (German:Bernwardstür) are the two leaves of a pair ofOttonian orRomanesque bronze doors, madec. 1015 forHildesheim Cathedral in Germany. They were commissioned by BishopBernward of Hildesheim (938–1022). The doors showrelief images from the Bible, scenes from theBook of Genesis on the left door and from the life ofJesus on the right door. They are considered a masterpiece ofOttonian art, and feature the oldest known monumental image cycle in German sculpture, and also the oldest cycle of images cast in metal in Germany.[1]
Along with theBernward Column, the doors are part of Bishop Bernward's efforts to create a cultural ascendancy for the seat of his diocese with artistic masterpieces in the context of theRenovatio imperii sought by theOttonians. ALatin inscription on the middle crossbar produced after Bernward's death[2] gives the year 1015 as theterminus ante quem for the creation of the doors:
AN[NO] DOM[INI] INC[ARNATIONIS] M XV B[ERNVARDVS] EP[ISCOPVS] DIVE MEM[ORIE] HAS VALVAS FVSILES IN FACIE[M] ANGELICI TE[M]PLI OB MONIM[EN]T[VM] SVI FEC[IT] SVSPENDI
(In the 1015th year of the incarnation of the Lord, Bishop Bernward (richly remembered) had these cast doors hung at the front of the angelic temple to his own memory)
Each leaf of the doors was cast as a single piece. Given the size (left: 472.0 x 125.0 cm, right: 472.0 x 114.5 cm, maximum thickness c. 3.5-4.5 cm) and enormous weight (both c. 1.85 tonnes) of the doors, this is a great achievement for its time. The raw material for the casting wasGunmetal, which consisted predominantly ofcopper (above 80%) with roughly equal parts oflead,tin, andzinc.[3] To date material analysis has not been able to show which ore deposit the metal came from, though theironworks atRammelsberg nearGoslar has been ruled out.[4]
Like their predecessors, theWolfstür (Wolf's door) of theAachen Cathedral and theMarktportal (Market Portal) of theMainz Cathedral, the Bernward Doors were manufactured using theLost-wax process, which puts exceptional demands on the workers of the casting workshop, since the mold can only be used once. The individual scenes of the doors were carved from massive wax ortallow tablets by modellers and then combined, supported by an iron frame, which is probably how the slight irregularities in the bands which divide the individual scenes came about. Even the doorknockers in the form of grotesque lion's heads with rings of grace in their mouths were included in the original mold rather than beingsoldered on later. Technical analysis has shown that the mold was stood on the long side and filled with bronze, so that the molten metal would spread evenly; investigation has found cooling cracks in the metal.[5] The result of this process was probably still rather rough, covered in metal bumps from the pipes in the mold through which the metal was poured in and through which air escaped and it would have had to have been worked over and polished up in great detail.
The Bernward Doors depict scenes from theBook of Genesis (left door) arranged in parallel to scenes from theGospels (right door). The scenes are organized based on the principle that Adam and Christ mirror each other - with Christ's sacrificial death redeeming Adam's sin. The left door depicts the increasing estrangement of humanity from God from top to bottom: theCreation,the Fall,Cain's murder of Abel. The right door shows the redemptive work of Christ from bottom to top: theAnnunciation andNativity, thePassion, theResurrection). The depictions of the right door, in which the birth and childhood of Jesus are followed immediately by his passion and resurrection, are complemented thematically by the depiction of his life and ministry on theBernward Column, which was probably also donated by Bernward, and stood in the east choir of St. Michael's until the eighteenth century.
In some cases, several events which chronologically occur one after another are depicted in a single panel, leading to an odd sense of multiplicity. This was an artistic convention of the time, much used inilluminated manuscripts. So for example, Adam appears twice in the scene of his awakening by God the Father.
(door handle)
(door handle)
To understand the parallelism between the panels of the left and right doors, one must enter the medieval mindset, with itstypological reading of the Old Testament according to the revelation of the New Testament (concordantia veteris et novi testamenti - harmony of the Old and New Testament). The typological concordances presented on the Bernward doors are based for the most part on thetheological writings of theChurch Fathers, especiallySt. Augustine:
| Left door (Book of Genesis) | Right door (Life of Jesus) | Typological connection[6] |
|---|---|---|
| God bringsAdam to life, Adam pays homage (?) to God the Father | Noli me tangere /Ascension of Jesus | The creation of Adam prefigures the resurrection of Christ.[7] |
| Meeting ofAdam and Eve | TheWomen at the tomb | Adam and Eve correspond as a couple to Christ and the women at the tomb, who were interpreted in a figurative sense as the "Brides of Christ".[8] |
| Fall of man | Crucifixion of Jesus | TheFall is the origin oforiginal sin, which was repaid by the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross (1 Corinthians 15:22). |
| Interrogation and condemnation of Adam and Eve | Jesus interrogated byHerod andPilate | While the banishment of Adam and Eve marked the beginning of a sinful, godless, and painful world, the condemnation of Christ brought salvation through the sacrifice on the cross. Adam and Eve deny their own debt, while Christ takes on the debt of others. |
| Expulsion from Paradise | Presentation of Jesus at the Temple | While Adam and Eve are driven from the "House of God" as a result of their sinfulness, Christ modelled the path to paradise for his followers in his presentation at the Temple. |
| Life of Adam and Eve on Earth | Adoration of the Magi | Mary as the "New Eve", who outweighs Eve's disobedience by her own obedience to God.[9] |
| Sacrifices ofCain and Abel | Nativity of Christ | The lamb, which Abel sacrifices, refers to theincarnation of God as Christ and his divine purity. |
| Cain murders Abel | Annunciation | The murder of the righteous Abel foreshadows in his blood the death of God in his incarnation as Christ.[10] |
The doors are made up of a number of framed panels; unlike theRoman originals, however, the design at Hildesheim is not their design, but probably an imitation of the ancient Roman examples.[11] Moreover, the impact of the frames is significantly reduced in favour of the figural scenes by their narrowness and the flat relief, so that they appear like the images of a contemporary illustrated manuscript, like theCodex Aureus of Echternach.
Thecomposition of the individual scenes is simple and effective. In contrast to the dramatic depictions ofCarolingian art, the artists avoided richly decorated backgrounds. The scenery, consisting of plants (especially on the left leaf) and architectural elements (mostly on the right leaf) are depicted in low relief and kept to a minimum. They are only there at all where they are necessary for comprehension of the scene or for compositional reasons. Instead, vast empty spaces providenegative space around the figures in the panels, to great effect.Alexander von Reitzenstein [de] identified the empty space as an "effective space of corresponding gestures."[12] With their movement and individual gestures, each figure interacts with others – none of the figures can be understood on their own, independent of their counterparts, without losing their meaning.[13]
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As usual inmedieval art, the figures are not individualized, but repeat a few stylised types. They have the disproportionately large, oval faces which are characteristic ofPre-Romanesque sculpture. Their very large, almond-shaped eyes sit in flat sockets with sharply delineated eyebrows. The hair is composed of parallel strands from a central parting. Nevertheless, thefacial expressions of some figures are very individuated and match the figures' gestures. Especially relevant in this respect is the figure ofCain who looks up to theHand of God in heaven with fearful, terror-stricken eyes and pulls his cloak tight around his body.
A progressive feature of the figures on the Bernward Doors is their style of relief: the figures do not extend a uniform distance from the background, but 'lean' out from it, so that when seen side on they almost give the impression of "roses on a trellis, with nodding heads."[14] A particular apt example of this is the figure of Mary with the baby Jesus in the depiction of theAdoration of the Magi: while her lower body is still in low relief, her upper body and Christ project out further, and finally Mary's shoulders and head are cast in the round. This unusual style was used for artistic reasons, not because of technical limitations.[15]
Unlike, for example, the Market Portal of the Mainz Cathedral, the identity of the artist responsible for the Bernward Doors is not preserved. As a result, older research attempted to identify a varying number of different artists on the basis of stylistic analysis of the individual panels.[16] Rainer Kahsnitz has since put these attributions in doubt, since the differences in execution between the reliefs is so marginal that they might as easily be the result of technical requirements as different artistic styles.[17] Probably a single artist was responsible for the creation of the Bernward Doors, with a small group of apprentices and assistants.[18]
There are various possibilities for the model of the Hildesheim doors as panelled doors (on the Roman model) and for the material used. Outstanding examples of monumental bronzeworking of the period include the doors of thePalatine chapel (c.800) and the doors of the Marktportal ofMainz Cathedral, which ArchbishopWilligis had the founder Berenger cast in 1009.[19] However, these doors have no figural decoration, except for door handles in the shape of lion's heads on the AachenWolfstür.[20] As his biographerThangmar reported in theVita Bernwardi, Bishop Bernward lived first in the Hostel of theSchola Francorum at theVatican and then in the Imperial Palace on thePalatine during his stay at Rome in 1001/2. He would have had the opportunity to view the monumental bronze door at the entrance toOld St. Peter's.[21] He probably also saw theLate Antique wooden doors ofSanta Sabina with their relief cycle in which Old and New Testament scenes are arranged opposite each other in a typology.[22] The Late Antique doors ofSant'Ambrogio inMilan are also a possible model.[23]
Franz Dibelius first pointed out the clear parallels between illumination of manuscripts in the time ofCharles the Bald and the composition of the images and figures of the left door. Some scenes of the Bernward Doors, e.g. the creation of Adam or the earthly life of Adam and Eve are arranged nearly identically to the so-calledMoutier-Grandval Bible (London, British Library, Ms Add. 10546). Significantly, this Late Carolingian manuscript came fromTours, where Bernward stayed in 1006, returning to Hildesheim a year later with expensive relics for the silverCross of Bernward. Close parallels can also be seen with other significant manuscripts of the ninth century, such as the c.800Alcuin Bible (Bamberg State Library, Msc.Bibl.1) and theBible ofSaint Paul Outside the Walls, created in 877 atCorbie Abbey (Rom, Abbazia di S. Paolo fuori le mura). That Bernward brought copies of famous Frankish bibles back from his travels is definitely not certain, but possible.[24] The ivory cover of theStammheim Missal (de), in which Alcuin presents a book to St.Martin of Tours, as the patron saint of his cloister, could derive from a bible of Tours acquired by Bernward.[25] Rudolf Wesenberg drew further iconographic and stylistic connections, but with traditional frescos in St. Paul beyond the Walls andOld St. Peter's which Bernward could have seen while in Rome.[26]
A range of further medieval bronze doors followed the Bernward Doors, but they have no clear connection with Hildesheim. The idea of casting the whole door from a single mold did not catch on - the most important metal doors are composed of a wooden frame with bronze panels inserted.[27] One of theGniezno Doors, made for Poland in about 1175, is also a single piece casting, but artistically much less sophisticated. This apparently proved too difficult, and for the other door 24 cast panels were soldered together. For the western doors ofSt. Paulus inWorms, in 1881, the sculptorLorenz Gedon [de] created a detailed replica of the Bernward Doors; unlike the original, these were made ofcast iron and for reasons of space, the two highest images (the creation of Adam and the Ascension of Christ!) were not included.[28] The RenaissanceFlorence Baptistery doors are the most famous doors in the tradition Bernward played an important role in reviving.
The "Angelic temple" named in the inscription has been identified by some scholars as Bernward's sepulchral church of thearchangelSt. Michael. According to them, the doors were originally hung in the southaisle (perhaps as two separate doors), in thecloisters, or in no longer extantwestwork and were transferred to the Cathedral in 1035 for the new western entrance whichWolfhere (de) reports thatBishop Gotthard had made in his biography,Vita Godehardi [de].[29] A combination of the previous hypothesis with the original location of the doors is provided by Wesenberg.[30] Latterly, Bernhard Bruns attempted to locate the original location of the doors at St. Michael's by their iconography.[31] The excavations carried out during renovations in 2006 have now demonstrated that St. Michael's never had a westwork. But the installation of the doors on the south aisle has also come into question, since foundation remains of anarthex were found there, next to the western stairway tower.[32] Recent research in religious history now demonstratestemplum angelicum was a liturgical form for a church dedicated to St. Michael.[33]
Other scholars argue that the doors were in Hildesheim Cathedral from the beginning, in the westwork which is otherwise held to have first been built in 1035.[34] Although the current west gallery has only been there since 1035,[35] they argue that Bernward had already laid down a west building here, whose shape and appearance can no longer be reconstructed with confidence. Either Bernward would have had the previous west choir and the crypt underneath truncated to create space for a vestibule, where the Bernward Doors might have been installed[36] or he would have had the west choir extended and installed the doors in the entrance to a chapel, which would have been built in front of the apse.[37] Only a few hints in the foundations support the idea of a Bernwardian west gallery in the cathedral and they allow no more detailed conjecture about its layout.
Literary sources offer no evidence for Bernward's construction work on the cathedral. If the doors were located in the western part of the building, they would have had to have been moved pretty soon after, since the cathedral was drastically altered by his successors Gotthard,Azelin andHezilo.[38] A later period of drastic reconstruction of the western part of the building occurred in 1842–50. Later, the westwork was largely rebuilt after taking severe damage in an air raid during theSecond World War. The modern plan of Wilhelm Fricke (which is not uncontroversial) is not based on the alleged layout of Bernward's time, but on the westwork ofMinden Cathedral and the alleged appearance of Hildesheim cathedral's westwork under Bishop Hezilo (1054–61).[39]
The leaves of the door escaped damage in the air raid of Hildesheim on 22 March 1945 only because they had been removed (at the initiative of thecathedral chapter) almost three years earlier, along with many other artworks of the cathedral. The leaves of the doors were taken to the so-called Kehrwieder wall in the southeast of the old city, where they spent the war underground. Since the doors weigh several tonnes, they had to be transported lying longwise in a stable scaffold by two teams of horses.[40]
According to the Hildesheim cathedralordinarium of 1473 "On Ash Wednesday in themedium monasterii, the bishop performed the ash sprinkling and the expulsion of public penitents through the southwestern church doors. After that they departed from the cathedral barefoot with the clergy through the large bronze doors and after walking about they went back in through the same doors."[41] The rite of the expulsion of the penitents inLent derives its meaning from the banishment of Adam and Eve from Paradise shown on the doors. "The images of the left leaf with the creation of humanity, the fall of man and the story of Cain and Abel corresponds to the breviary reading (Genesis 1-5.5) on Septuagesima Sunday and the following week, which begins the pre-Lenten period."[42] Thus in its original location, the door probably also served for the education of the penitents, who were restricted to the vestibule (Narthex or "Paradise") of the churchbuilding during Lent.
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) 184 pages, 25 drawings by the author.{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)). The dedication of the west gallery of Hildesheim cathedral to St. Michael is otherwise only attested from the Late Middle Ages.
