The Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Pious founded the Bishopric of Hildesheim in 815 and created the first settlement with a chapel on the so-called Domhügel.

The settlement around the cathedral very quickly developed into a town and was granted market rights by King Otto III in 983.

[5] For four centuries the clergy ruled Hildesheim, before a town Hall was built and the citizens gained some influence and independence.

In 1868 a highly valuable trove of about 70 Roman silver vessels for eating and drinking, the so-called Hildesheim Treasure, was unearthed by Prussian soldiers.

Early in World War II, Nazi roundups of the Jewish population began, and hundreds of Hildesheim's Jews were sent to concentration camps.

Most of the major churches – two of them now UNESCO World Heritage sites – were rebuilt in the original style soon after the war.

In the autumn of 2007, a decision was made to reconstruct the Upended Sugarloaf (Umgestülpter Zuckerhut), an iconic half-timbered house famous for its unusual shape.

Today, 28.5% of the inhabitants identify themselves as Roman Catholics (Hildesheim Diocese) and 38.3% as Protestants (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover).

Other places of interest include the theatre, offering opera, operetta and musicals, drama, ballet and concerts.

Tertiary Education can be achieved at the University of Hildesheim or Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst (HAWK), a co-operation with the cities of Holzminden and Göttingen.