The Bernward Column () also known as the Christ Column () is a bronze column, made for St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany, and regarded as a masterpiece of Ottonian art. It was commissioned by Bernward, thirteenth bishop of Hildesheim in 1020, and made at the same time. 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. Original location and history The Bernward Column was made for St. Michael's Church, 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 literary sources and confirmed in 2006 by excavations. In addition, in front of the altar stood a column of eastern Mediterranean marble covered in copper. According to later sources, it 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 also 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 forehall of the Temple of Solomon. Furthermore, the distance of roughly 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. In 1544, during the chaos of the Reformation in Hildesheim, the cross on top of the column was removed by iconoclasts. It was melted down and recast as a cannon, suggesting that it was of considerable size. After the demolition of the east choir