The Golden Madonna, representing Mary with Jesus, is the embodiment of the Patron Saint of the German Diocese of Essen, where it is nowadays conserved. The miraculous statue, sculpted around 980 AD, was the most important Marian icon for the canonesses and sisters of the Essen Abbey, venerated for centuries and brought in processions. The statue is carved in poplar wood and covered with 116 thin sheets of gold, with decorative previous stones and gold filigree. In 1959, Pope Johannes XXIII appointed the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title “Mother of Good Counsel” as “the first and special Patron Saint of the entire Diocese of Essen”. Since then, the Golden Madonna has resided in the left side chapel of the Essen cathedral. Through the Golden Madonna’s thousand-year history and that of the powerful women’s community to which it once belonged, this sculptural figure unites the past and present. Still today, it significantly emphasises its importance for the diocese as well as its secular environment. It is an important memorial site for the Ruhr District and all of Christian Europe.
Germany
The Golden Madonna (Diocese of Essen)
