St. Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium

St Bavo’s Cathedral stands on the site where Transmarus, Bishop of Doornik, founded a chapel in 942 in honour of St. John the Baptist.  The chapel was expanded in the Romanesque style in the 11th Century, but it was not until 1569 that the final rebuilding of the church was said to be completed.  While I usually like to show images of what I refer to in the writing, I am somewhat forced to deviate from this here.  St. Bavo’s Cathedral is primarily known as the home of the Ghent Altar Piece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, which was completed by Jan van Eyck, in 1432.  While I would love to be able to show the work itself, photography of the altar piece is strictly forbidden, and even if it were allowed, it is kept in such darkness for its preservation, that it would be virtually impossible.  So, while I will be showing photographs of the cathedral, it is really the altar piece that is the cathedrals most important feature. The Ghent Altar Piece was commissioned by Judocus Vijdt and his wife Elisabeth Borluut, who were both from affluent Ghent families.  Judocus was the alderman of Ghent and the church warden. They have each had their likeness displayed on the altar piece itself.  The altar piece is more than just a work of art, it is a complex display of iconography, and its meaning has led to much speculation, and the artists chose symbolic language rather than a narrative representation.  It is not always known to those who haven’t seen it just how large of a piece we are talking about. This double-sided altar piece contains 20 individual panels, or really what is 20 separate paintings framed together, to be viewed as one unit. Altar pieces usually could open and close and this one is no different, and was created to fold inwards.  When closed it is 2.6 meters (8 feet 5 inches) wide, and opens to 4.6 meters (15 feet).

When the altar piece was unveiled in the cathedral in 1432, Jan van Eyck was living in Bruges. Jan van Eyck had been a court painter to John of Bavaria, the Count of Holland in the 1420’s, but after the Count’s death he found work with the Burgundian Duke, Philip the Fair, in Lille. It is thought that the original commission of the altar piece was undertaken by Hubert van Eyck, the brother of Jan, but upon Hubert’s death in 1426, Jan finished the work. Once the altar piece was on display, it would have been primarily the outside panels that were seen as it would have remained closed, only being opened on Sundays and feast days. The outside panels show the donors kneeling before John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, above them sits the angel Gabriel. Looking down on the scene from the top are two prophets from the Old Testament, Zacharias and Micheas, as well as two sibyls, meaning women with prophetic powers. 

The interior of the altar piece is thought to have been largely inspired by the Book of Revelation, and the Apocalypse, as the inside panels continue the story with Adam and Eve who are both shown naked as they were painted, however the Victorians replaced these panels with a clothed version of Adam and Eve.  The central and largest painting in the middle, is of the Mystic Lamb who sheds his blood to save mankind. The lamb is shown in a radiant meadow dotted with flowers and shrubs. The painting also contains pagan symbolism, and representations of secular power, showing judges, martyrs, hermits and pilgrims. The realism of the work is all the more impressive when you consider that oil painting was in its infancy at the time it was created. 

It is nothing short of miraculous that the Ghent Altar piece exists today. It was taken to safety during the iconoclasms of the 16th Century, while the cathedral was in the hands of the Calvinists.  It was around this time that King Philip II of Spain was so determined to purchase the altar piece, that he had a copy made by his court painter Michiel Coxcie. The copy was kept in Madrid, but was later divided up and is spilt throughout Europe. In the 17th Century, it was incorporated into a baroque altar in the cathedral, but in the 18th Century the panels were removed from the altar and put into storage. In 1794 the four central panels were taken to Paris, but after the fall of Napoleon they were brought back to the Cathedral. In the early 19th Century, six of the side panels were purchased by a Brussels art dealer and sold to a collector. They eventually ended up in the possession of the King of Prussia and a museum in Berlin, where they were sawn apart to separate the back planel from the front so they could each be shown.  The central panel still in Ghent, was damaged in a fire and required total restoration.  By the end of the 19th Century, the Adam and Eve panels were purchased by the Royal Museums of Brussels. What was left in the Cathedral at this time, was only the four central panels that were originals. It wasn’t until 1920 that the altar piece was once again complete, but it still wasn’t safe.

On the 10th of April 1934 two of the panels were stolen, the panels of the Righteous Judges, and John the Baptist.  John the Baptist was soon recovered, but to this day there has been no trace of the Righteous Judges panel, despite numerous investigations.  World War II endangered the artwork once again, and it was taken to a Castle in Pau, in France, for safekeeping.  The German army seized the castle and took the altarpiece in 1942.  When the war ended, the altar piece was discovered in an Austrian salt mine, along with many other priceless works of art. There has even been a Hollywood movie made about it called ‘The Monuments Men’.