Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Leine River. The Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Pious founded the Bishopric of Hildesheim in 815 and created the first settlement with a chapel on the so-called Domhügel.