Dated around the year 980, it is both the oldest known sculpture of the Madonna and the oldest free-standing medieval sculpture north of the Alps, and is also one of the few major works of art to survive from Ottonian times.
Dating back around 980, this sculpture is recognized as being both the oldest known depiction of the Madonna and one of the oldest freestanding medieval sculptures found north of the Alps, and it's also among a small number of major artworks to have survived from the Ottonian period.