With a height of 4.72 meters it figures among the highest bronze doors. Its wings were both casted in one piece.

The door´s inscription bears the date 1015.

The sectional frame system, with its division into four equally sized compartments, was possibly made after the example of the bronze doors of the Cathedral of Mainz. These were commissioned by bishop Willigis, a long-standing sponsor, and later a political opponent of bishop Bernward.

The Bernward door is larger than the bronze door of the Cathedral of Mainz and has been fitted with images for the first time in post-antiquity.

Two lion heads on the door, facing outside until the door´s wartime evacuation, protect, so to speak, the closed church interior.

The sixteen image sections depict, in juxtaposition, scenes from the Old and New Testament.

The positioning of Eve and Mary on opposite sides underlines the topical structure of guilt and redemption, which dominates the imagery on the door.

The images from the Old Testament on the left wing, read from top to bottom, begin with the creation of man and end with the fratricide.
The right wing responds with images from the New Testament, read from bottom to top. It begins with the Annunciation. The topmost image depicts the risen Christ, who, like a "new Adam", has atoned for the guilt of man and overcame death.