Ghent Altarpiece - Tickets required? AR tour?

Yes, I visited twice at the end of April.

The first day I had a timed entry they were sold out for the day so yes, get your tickets ahead of time. There were a number of people lined up for the opening after lunch and a staff member was walking down the line checking tickets. He was telling people they were sold out and there was no chance for entry that day unless they'd booked ahead. Line up before your time slot back in the left corner where the entrance to the crypt is. It's not well marked but once you are in past the ticket desks, go down the stairs to the AR area. You'll come back up when you are finished down there and can make a comfort stop or just go on up to the Mystic Lamb. (The bathrooms are new and nice, lol.)

I thought the Augmented Reality program was quite good. It is different than Virtual Reality in that you can see thru the glasses and see where you are going with the scenes projected on the glasses. It was very interesting and I learned a lot even though I'd seen the Mystic Lamb when I visited Ghent in 2019 and it was still being restored. It is chilly in the crypt. I went in April and it was chilly outside and even cooler inside.

When I was booking my entrance ticket I found the times on some days kind of weird so check and see what is showing for the day you are going. You first do the AR program which is down in the crypt and then doff your glasses (which fit over eyeglasses no problem) and go upstairs. The area behind the altar with a number of side chapels is blocked off from the rest of the church but is open to those who have paid entry. You can spend as much time as you want in this area and do note there is a Reubens painting in one of the chapels. I do recommend you bring binoculars if you travel with them. I loved looking closely at the flowers and other details, some of which were noted in the AR program.

This altarpiece is one of my favorite pieces of art. It is just so stunning to me and there is SO much detail! BTW, the giftshop up at the front of the cathedral (on the left side as you head to the exit) is pretty good too, lol!

Have you watched The Monuments Men? It's one of the pieces of art that was recovered by them from a salt mine in Austria.

I hope you enjoy it!

I just bought the regular tickets, at that time (Last November), advanced tickets were required due to covid measures.

The normal tickets are self guided, you walk through ,spend as much time as you care viewing the altarpiece, you can see a bit of the church, then on your way.

I had a phone with service, so just used the app/website to buy the ticket.

Pam thank you for all that info. I have a list of tickets I'm going to sit down and book this weekend for my upcoming NL/BE trip, but for some reason the Ghent Altarpiece was one I didn't think I needed to pre-book. The days of walking up to anything really are gone.

I think part of it is the AR head pieces are limited although they have a bunch of them. The chapel where they've installed the Mystic Lamb is small and can get crowded but if you wait long enough it will clear out.

When I went back the 2nd time I was with a Road Scholar tour group. We were later in the day and I just hung around for a long time and was there on my own for quite a bit of time.

The day I booked it for myself there were only times being offered over about a 3 hour period in the afternoon. One of the other days there was just one time slot at about 1230 or something. That was my arrival day and since my train was a couple hours late leaving Paris I'm glad I didn't try to cut it too close. The other day it was closed completely. I'm not sure if it is related to staffing - not sure if the folks were volunteers or actual employees of the cathedral - or special events at the cathedral or what. BTW, as often happens in Belgium, all the staff spoke English and were extremely helpful to this old person who'd never used AR glasses, lol!