Kaiserhaus, Renaissance building at Old Market, Germany

The Kaiserhaus is a 1998 new building at the Old Market whose facade incorporates parts of the 1587 Renaissance house destroyed on 22 March 1945. The integrated stonework includes figures symbolizing the Assyrian-Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires, an oriel with the four seasons, and 46 medallions of Roman emperors that gave the house its name.

Caspar Borcholt had the house built in 1587 in the Langen Hagen as Hildesheim's first stone residential building; its top floor was timber-framed. Destroyed in the air raid of 22 March 1945, it was not rebuilt in its old form: parts of the facade were integrated into a new building completed at the Alten Markt in 1998, which took over the name Kaiserhaus.

The facade displays medallions of Roman emperors, showing how Renaissance people were drawn to classical antiquity and imperial imagery. These carved portraits reveal what educated residents valued and displayed on their homes.

The building stands directly at the Old Market and the ornate facade can be easily viewed on foot from the square. The carved details are best seen in daylight, so plan your visit for daytime hours to appreciate the stonework fully.

The Diana fountain that belonged to the house was destroyed for good in 1945. A stone from the courtyard side bearing the year M is set into the wall on the Pfaffenstieg, and a fragment of the courtyard portal, showing Bacchus flanked by two boys riding dolphins, is kept in the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum.