Hildesheim Rose Christening Spoon

SILVER HILDESHEIM CHRISTENING ROSE SPOON

The Legend of the Rose Tree in Hildesheim.

The famous Rose Tree, which is 1,000 years old, grows outside of the Cathedral of Hildesheim (this building was completed in 1061).

Legend has it that King Louis the Pious, during a shooting party in the middle of the forest, held a service in honour of the Virgin Mary. In a short time, the followers of the King noticed that they had forgotten to take back the church implements. After a long search, the men found those implements hanging on a rose tree but they couldn't disentangle them from the thorns. King Louis saw this as a sign from the Virgin Mary and had a chapel built on the spot. Later on the Cathedral of Hildesheim was built there and the rose tree which is alongside is still in bloom to this day. In March 1945 the rose tree was scorched by fire and buried in debris through bombing, everyone thought that the rose tree was destroyed; however, the next summer the rose tree blossomed again.  The Hildesheim Rose design on this spoon was created by the renowned German silversmith Christoph Widmann in 1919.