Hubert and Jan van Eyck’s Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, also known as the Ghent Altarpiece, one of the world’s greatest masterpieces, and surely the most stolen piece of art of all time, has a new €30m (£26m) glass-case home.
The 20-foot-tall case boasts bulletproof glass and a 1,000-square-foot climate-controlled interior. The painting was moved from the cathedral’s Vijd Chapel to the Sacrament chapel, where, it will hang from pneumatically controlled steel supports above an altar. Meanwhile, extra large security doors have been installed nearby, in case of an emergency.
It includes an improved visitor experience and better climatic conditions for the work, which has been meticulously restored to its former glory over the last seven years. The indoor temperature in the unheated cathedral drops to 2C in winter and the cathedral is at times filled with sunlight via its coloured, stained glass windows.
During its 588-year history, the Ghent Altarpiece has been nearly burned by rioting Calvinists, stolen by Napoleon for the Louvre in Paris, cut in half after falling into the hands of the King of Prussia, coveted by Hermann Göring and taken by Adolf Hitler before being rescued by a team of commando double-agents from an Austrian salt mine where it was destined to be blown apart with dynamite.
One of its 12 panels remains missing after a daring heist on the evening of 10 April 1934, which has since baffled police detectives, bemused amateur sleuths and driven to despair the Nazi agents ordered by Goebbels to find it as a gift for the German Führer.
To allow access to visitors, while maintaining high security, there has been significant demolition and redesign of some of the cathedral’s ancient stone walls, which accounts for the significant bill footed by the Flemish government and other sponsors. The high-security translucent glass case itself cost €5m.
Due to Covid restrictions visitors will be invited to book a viewing of the masterpiece from 29 March. “Jan van Eyck was a genius who has been astonishing the world for more than five centuries with his innovative techniques,” Jambon said. “Both the magnificent restoration and the circumstances in which the Ghent Altarpiece can now be admired are astonishing. It confronts us with human’s eternal quest for mystery,” he continued. “I am convinced that many people will find personal resonance here.”