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This sculpture is a very special one. It was made about the year 1250 and it is the oldest known representation of a Black African in Europe. It depicts the patron saint of Magdeburg cathedral, Saint Maurice. Already the first church built in 937 at the location of the current cathedral was an abbey called St. Maurice, dedicated to Saint Maurice. It was founded by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.

According to a legend he came from Meroe in the today's Sudan and in the 3rd century he was the leader of the legendary Roman Theban legion from Thebes/Egypt, composed entirely by Christians. Therefore the sculpture wears a coat of mail. His legion had been called from Egypt to Gaul to assist the emperor Maximian to defeat a revolt there. However, when Maximian ordered them to harass some local Christians, they refused and Maximian ordered the unit punished. Every tenth soldier was killed, a military punishment known as decimation. More orders followed, they still refused, partly because of Maurice's encouragement, and a second decimation was ordered. In response to their refusal to use violence against fellow Christians, Maximian commanded the execution of all the remaining 6600 members of the unit. The place in today's Switzerland where this occurred, then known as Agaunum, is now Saint-Maurice-en-Valais.
Maurice already was canonised in the 4th century.