Naumburg Cathedral: Mysterious Master Sculptor

There is a new World Heritage Site north of us in Thuringen (Thuringia). Last year, UNESCO added the Cathedral at Naumburg to its list of World Heritage sites.

Naumburg Cathedral is known for its architecture, sculptures and images, and according to the supporting scientists, it is "a unique testimony to medieval art and liturgy. The harmonic connection between architecture,
sculpture and stained glass windows in the west choir of the cathedral counts among
the most impressive creations of human creativity in the Middle Ages at large.″

East Choir Screen

When Naumburg was nominated to the UNESCO list, the documents said that the choir screens were especially worth preserving.

West Choir Screen

"It is the only Cathedral illustrating in two almost completely preserved choir screen structures from the first half of the 13th century the profound changes in religious practice, perception, and in the reflection of nature and in science observation in the figurative arts. The workshop organization of sculptors and stonemasons which was likely established in the early 13th century and is known under the name of the “Naumburg Master” constitutes one of the decisive conveyors and pioneers of the ground-breaking innovations in architecture and sculpture of the Late Hohenstaufen period in the 2nd half of the 13th century that were first developed at Reims Cathedral and have been lost in other places. The quality of the Naumburg Master’s work has since justified Naumburg’s reputation far beyond its region."

The screen of the east choir is late  Romanesque, and the screen of the west choir is Gothic. The interior of the west choir and its screen were the work of the Naumburg Master, so-called because nobody today knows his name. But his artwork is among the most important of the European Middle Ages. He and his workshop traveled across Europe from Reims around 1225, to Metz in the Holy Roman Empire, and around 1230 he was in Mainz to work on the Cathedral. From there he traveled to Naumburg and worked from about 1245-1250 until construction was finished in 1257. Everywhere the Naumburg Master worked he left behind recognizable art. Other famous Gothic artists, like Tilman Riemenschneider, who lived later and worked around 1500, produced wonderful, but stylized, figures (see our blog). His wooden statue of St. Elisabeth in the Neuenburg Castle (see our blog) is very beautiful and also stylized.  But the Master of Naumburg made very realistic sculptures in the mid 1200s.

 The reliefs along the top of the west screen are more like statues; they are carved from one piece of stone. They depict scenes from the passion of Christ. At the passage through the west screen is a statue of Christ crucified.  On the sides of the passage are statues of Mary and John. The statue of St. John is especially expressive, as you can see in the photo.

Scenes from the passion of Christ

 

St. John on right side of passage

Entrance to west choir

Inside the west choir are the twelve monumental donor portraits that are considered his masterpieces. The most famous are the statues of Uta and her husband Ekkehard II of Meissen (today the city where the first porcelain was produced in Germany). Legend has it that the figure of Uta, with her high collar and medieval head covering, was an inspiration for the Disney portrayal of the evil queen in Snow White.

West choir screen from inside the choir 

Ekkehard II and Uta

Most churches, however old they are, no longer have choir, or "rood", screens. The "rood" refers to the cross that was typically depicted on the congregation side of the screen. Choir screens were meant to hide the altar from the lay person's view, making the ceremony of the mass even more mysterious. After the council of Trent ended in 1563, they were removed from Catholic churches as part of the Counter-Reformation. It is amazing that these screens survived. It is probably due in part to the neglect that churches suffered under the East German communist regime that such architecture survived.

Underneath the late-Romanesque nave is a high-Romanesque crypt, which
"is characterised by its high-quality architectural decoration. The palmette cushion capitals rank among the most beautiful examples of their kind in the Central European area. With the High Romanesque crucifix placed on the well preserved Godehard altar of the crypt (3rd quarter of the 12th century) an impressive furnishing piece complements the built Romanesque structure".
The crypt represents the oldest stone structure on the site.