Uta of Naumburg

'The Most Beautiful Woman of the German Middle Ages' 

Not so long ago I came across this beautiful face and I thought

"This is probably the prettiest face I have ever seen carved in stone."

So taken by her was I, that I was eager to find out who exactly she was. Eventually I found out that she was Uta of Naumburg. 
I then looked up the word beauty in the dictionary and one definition was

                                                "a form that pleases the aesthetic senses, esp. the sight."

Didn't the master craftsman who created this image of Uta get that right.  ​

​Uta of Naumburg was probably born around the turn of the 10th century, she was the daughter of Count Adalbert of Ballenstedt and his wife Hidda, daughter of Hodo I. She was a member of the House of Ascanisan, whose lands covered what today is Saxony and Brandenburg. Her ancestors, the Ascanians, name derives from a medieval Latin variant of the name Castle Aschersleben, which was a hilltop castle in Wolfsberg Germany.

Uta had married Ekkehard II of Messen, a nobleman in the court of Henry III the Holy Roman Emperor who reigned from 1046 to 1056. Ekkehard was responsible for securing the German boarder against attacks from Poland andBohemia. Uta's marriage was childless, on their deaths the couple left their estates to Henry III and their great wealth to Naumburg Cathedral in order to help with the construction of a chapel.​ Uta and her husband are two of twelve nobles who were the founders of the cathedral and in the 13th century, twelve life sized 'donor portraits' were placed on pillars at one end of the cathedral in their honour. 

Uta died ​sometime before 1046.

Many people over the centuries have noticed Uta's beauty, the late Umberto Eco was asked what woman from European
art he would most like to spend the evening, he answered:

                                            “In first place, ahead of all others, with Uta von Naumburg.”

Walt Disney also was taken with her beauty, look closely at this image of Uta, look first at her face and her clothing see how her collar is raised, and how one hand is supporting a fold in her cloak. Doe's she remind you of any one? 

Disney used Uta's face in his 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, he took her face, her crown and cloak and used them to create two characters.  He changed Uta's face slightly to give us the evil, yet stunning medieval enchantresses, that is the wicked stepmother, and he used her sweet innocent look to create Snow White herself.

​​

Uta is said to be the 'most beautiful woman of the German Middle Ages' 

Eight centuries ago a stone mason captured Uta's beauty and carved it in limestone for all to see, today there have been numerous photographs taken of her, her image appears in art books and magazines, on postcards and calendars.