In 1952, the present
Gothic building was inaugurated as a war memorial, in part reconstructed with
sandstone from the
Deister, a chain of hills about southwest of Aegidien Church. It was originally completed in 1347 as a church dedicated to Saint Giles, one of the
Fourteen Holy Helpers. It replaced a
Romanesque church built in 1156–63 at the same site in the
old town of Hanover, which replaced an early Romanesque chapel thought to have been constructed around the turn of the first millennium. In 1703–11, designed the
Baroque facade with which the steeple was decorated, and in 1826
Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves used
cast iron columns to remodel the interior of the church. Like the other two churches in the old town, the
Market Church and the
Church of the Holy Cross, Aegidien Church was destroyed along with most of the old town in 1943. The only two items in its interior that survived destruction are the brass
baptismal font dating to 1490 (now located in the Market Church), and three
chandeliers that are now located in the Church of the Holy Cross. However, several
Baroque epitaphs are featured on the outer walls. One of these shows Susanna Magdalena Oldekop, who died in 1648 as a child, with an angel. Also featured is a copy of the a relief of seven praying men who, according to legend, died at the defending the town in 1480; the original is now kept in the
Hanover Historical Museum. In 1959 designed a monumental sculpture called
Humility () for the interior of Aegidien Church, which became part of the Market Church parish in 1982. and superintendent Thomas Höflich
Hiroshima, a
twin town of Hanover since 1983, donated the peace bell () close to the tower in 1985. It is used in an annual service on
Hiroshima Day (6 August). == General references ==