It has been on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list since 1985 due to the before mentioned early-Romanesque architecture and art found within such as the Tree of Jesse and the now relocated Bernward Doors.

Along with Bernward's significant influence on the building, layout, and physicality of the Abbey, he was personally trained in bronze casting as well as "painting and metalwork" which he honed during his time as a private tutor to Otto lll.

[1] This knowledge proved valuable within his critical position in the creation of the church, and we see much of his personal Romanesque style, which he garnered with Otto lll in Rome, within.

[2] The monastery comprises a church family and has two other sanctuaries dedicated to Martin and the Holy Cross lying in the cloister that extended northward from St. Michael's north flank.

The monastery and church open southward toward the city of Hildesheim, its south flank comprising a facade of a sort.

[3] In 1186, after a reconstruction following a fire, Hildesheim's Bishop Adelog of Dorstedt – assisted by Tammo, Prince-Bishop of Verden – reconsecrated St. Michael's.

[8] The ceiling of the church is decorated with a painting, 27.6 m long and 8.7 m wide, depicting the Tree of Jesse, the ancestral line of Jesus.

From the south and east of the Hill is Hildesheim's downtown, to the west is the River Innerste and in the north the Gymnasium Andreanum school.