We're looking at the Bishop Bernward doors
that date from about 1015.
We know that Bishop Bernard went
on a pilgrimage to Rome,
and then returned back to Hildesheim
and wanted to recreate some
of the monumental art that he saw.
And specifically when he was in Rome,
he saw the monumental wooden doors at Santa Sabina
that have scenes from the Old and New Testament
carved into them.
And he felt like he needed his own doors.
We read these starting in the upper left hand corner,
in which you have the creation
of Eve from the side of Adam.
And then, below that,
is the presentation of Eve to Adam.
Then the Temptation.
Below that is then the accusation of Adam and Eve.
And then below that the Expulsion.
The panel below that, interrupted by the door handles,
and we see Adam working the land on the left –
Eve nursing on the right.
And a fun fact about Eve's nursing is that this is one of
maybe only twenty images of Eve nursing.
Below that we have Cain and Abel and their sacrifices
or presentation to the Lord.
Below that the final panel
is the murder of Abel by Cain.
And then instead of going back to the top on the right
it starts at the bottom, where we have the Enunciation
with Mary and the Angel.
Then the Nativity – that's the birth of Jesus.
And then the scene is interrupted by the
door handle here, is the adoration of the Magi.
We have the three Magi on the right
approaching Mary and Jesus on the left.
Above that we have the Presentation in the Temple.
Above that we've got Christ being presented
to either Herod or Pilate before his crucifixion.
Above that we've got the crucifixion of Christ.
About that we have the Marys at the tomb,
which was the standard scene showing
the resurrection in the early Middle Ages.
And then at the very top we have
what's called the "Noli me tangere" [Touch me not]
Mary Magdalene sees Jesus in the garden
and he says, "Don't touch me."
And so we have our scenes from early Genesis,
and then scenes from the Gospels.
Now one of the really interesting things
that happens here, is that we have
all the scenes lined up next to each other.
There are some visual and also some thematic patterns
that happen left to right.
And the one that I think is a really good example –
in the third panel from the top,
we've got the Temptation.
Adam and Eve are about to eat the fruit.
And then on the right, the Crucifixion.
And if we look at the tree that holds the fruit
in the Adam and Eve scene-
it's very much a cruciform shaped tree –
just as we have Christ on the cross
in the center of the other image.
And then we have Adam and Eve on either side –
just as we have the tormentors on either side.
And then on he far edges of the Adam-and-Eve scene,
we've got trees and then we have Mary and John
in the crucifixion scene.
So there's a similarity of composition.
And what I think that does is bring out
the thematic connection of
"In Adam all men die. In Christ, all men are made alive."
Which is a really important idea for Christianity –
and especially for Christianity in the Middle Ages.
Absolutely. This is a very long, old tradition
in Christianity –
to compare Christ as the new Adam-
and then Mary as the new Eve.
And you have traditions that the cross was made
from the wood of the tree in the garden.
So this is an Ottonian work of art.
And Ottonians were kind of hangers-on
to the Carolingian Renaissance.
They saw themselves as being inheritors
of the Carolingian Empire.
In my mind, they're not so much looking back
so diligently to the classical models.
But there is definitely the flavor
of some of that Carolingian Renaissance here.
These are cast in solid bronze.
And it's very much thought that
the lost wax method was used here –
that Bishop Bernward had his artists recreate
or rediscover the lost-wax method,
so that these doors could be cast in two single pieces,
as opposed to being hammered from the inside
with the 'reposé'
And that is very much in keeping with that Carolingian
and the inherited idea of looking back
to classical and ancient models
and reclaiming them and reviving them.
Right. So we have the ancient method
used here in the Ottonian Period.