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Faith Matters - Mediaeval Beauty - The World of Uta of Naumburg

August 5, 2018

Finally declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Naumburg Cathedral is one of Germany’s finest churches - significant not only for its architectural splendor but because it contains a portrait of one of the great beauties of the Middle Ages: Margravine Uta von Ballenstedt. The statue was carved by a mediaeval stone sculptor who, in spite of his fame, is known to history only as the Naumburg Master.

https://p.dw.com/p/32dgj

The magnificent donor statues in the cathedral’s west choir made not only "the most beautiful woman in the Middle Ages” but also the artist world-famous. The sculptor known to us as the Naumburg Master produced twelve donor figures and the splendid screen in the west choir. The finest of these portraits is that of the beautiful Margravine Uta von Ballenstedt. Virtually nothing is known about the artist except that he knew the great French cathedrals in Rheims and Noyon and probably learnt his craft there. However, his magnificent work is one of the reasons why the cathedral has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.