Has anyone been to see the Ghent altar piece in the last month or so? The website says it is under going restoration and that about 1/3 is missing and replaced with black and white photos. Any info on what is missing would be appreciated. We were planning on going from Paris to Ghent this coming Monday but if the mystical lamb is out for restoration, it's a no go.
Bill
he website says it is under going restoration and that about 1/3 is missing and replaced with black and white photos. It's been under partial restoration for greater than a decade, if memory serves me correct. Hasn't stopped all those visitors in the interim from enjoying it.
We were at St Bavos Cathedral earlier this week but didn't get into see the Altarpiece as there was a huge lineup of school kids (...it was a Sunday, so not sure why so many kids were there) and didn't want to wait. However, I read that part of it was out for restoration and black and white photos are temporarily replacing that part but more importantly a piece of it (the bottom left panel I think) was stolen 80 years ago and has yet to surface. A reproduction stands in its place.
The back panels are finished since the end of 2016 and placed back in the St. Bavo’s Cathedral. According the information board at the entrance of the exhibition room the first half of the front panels will be finished and placed back half 2018, the other half end 2020. The plan is to move at the end the completely restored “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” to a new museum. It is possible that the restoration of the front panels can take longer as it was with the back panels, likely the painstaking proces of restoration will reveal new details needing more work.
If you want to see that “missing” half of the front panels you have to go to the Museum of Fine Arts / Museum van Schone Kunsten also in Ghent, where you can see the specialists at work. You can take tram line 1 (Expo) to Sint-Pieters railway station and get out at Gent van Nassaustraat.
It’s true you cannot see the whole work of art in one piece, but seeing the restoration I think is an unique experience and worth to consider. It's also true that two panels were stolen in 1934, one turned back but alas "The Just Judges" is still missing.
The museum Wil mentioned where you can see the restoration in progress is, unfortunately, not open on Monday. However I still think even seeing the portion that is finished and is in the cathedral is very worth seeing. When I went in 2014, several of the panels weren't there but the restored panels that I was able to see were just amazing. It was one of my 'must sees' so, even though I was disappointed that I couldn't see it all, I wouldn't have missed it. Are you just going to Ghent as a day trip and returning to Paris? Or was Ghent going to be a stop between Paris and somewhere else? I'm not sure the long travel time would be totally worth it for a day trip from Paris if you weren't planning on seeing anything else in Ghent.
Nancy - Thank you for remarking that the museum is closed on Monday.
