Focus on Bernward Doors and explain the Iconography.
The Bernward Doors depict scenes from the Book of Genesis (left door) arranged in parallel to scenes from the Gospels (right door). The scenes are organized based on the principle that Adam and Christ mirror each other - with Christ's sacrificial death redeeming Adam's sin. The left door depicts the increasing estrangement of humanity from God from top to bottom: the Creation, the Fall, Cain's murder of Abel. The right door shows the redemptive work of Christ from bottom to top: the Annunciation and Nativity, the Passion, the Resurrection). The depictions of the right door, in which the birth and childhood of Jesus are followed immediately by his passion and resurrection, are complemented thematically by the depiction of his life and ministry on the Bernward Column, which was probably also donated by Bernward, and stood in the east choir of St. Michael's until the eighteenth century.
In some cases, several events which chronologically occur one after another are depicted in a single panel, leading to an odd sense of multiplicity. This was an artistic convention of the time, much used in illuminated manuscripts. So for example, Adam appears twice in the scene of his awakening by God the Father.
Jesus illuminated manuscripts Abel Cain's murder of Abel Bernward Column Passion Annunciation St. Michael Gospels Gospel Book of Genesis the Fall lead Resurrection de Creation Cain Adam Nativity