Prophet Zechariah in a hat with earflaps. Kumskaya sibyl in kokoshnik and furs. Eve with lemon instead of apple … The Ghent Altarpiece is a mystery for historians and art critics. There is even a theory that this is not just a masterpiece, but an encrypted message from the Templars about where the Holy Grail is hidden - after all, this sacred cup is supposedly depicted in the very center. The fate of the masterpiece is full of drama and mysteries. For many centuries, the altar was hunted like the Holy Grail, but it mystically returned to its native cathedral.
And HERE ROTTED BOARDS IN EXPENSIVE
The unusual ability of the masterpiece to return home from everywhere was first discussed after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. Then, in 1815, the three central panels of the altar returned to their place of permanent residence from France, where they languished for two decades after the capture of Bonaparte's army.
A year later, the vicar of St. Bavo's Cathedral sold six of the twelve doors. Do you think he wanted to cash in on the sale of church property? Not at all. The priest was driven by only one desire - to put in order the neglected cathedral. That's really really: I wanted the best, but it turned out as always! When the vicar was asked for arbitrariness, he could not even name the buyer - in the heat of the moment he did not bother to recognize him. The sold parts of the altar were searched for for a long time, but they were never found. The details of the deal became known years later. For six doors, the vicar hoped to save only 600 francs. However, out of the blue, the buyer - a cunning Brussels antiquarian - promised ten times more money on condition that he took out the "rotten boards" immediately. The vicar did not hesitate for a minute,and the junk dealer immediately resold the "junk" for 100,000 francs to the British timber merchant Edward Solly. The latter turned out to be the most cunning: he bought a thing for almost nothing, the cost of which was several times higher. The Prussian king Frederick Wilhelm III without hesitation paid Sulli 400,000 francs for part of the altar. In 1821, scenes from heavenly life were added to the collection of the Berlin Kaisermuseum, and the German rulers since then have desired to take possession of the entire altar.
NATIONAL HOLIDAY
The Germans had a chance to fulfill their dream in the fall of 1914. Their army was advancing so rapidly that the rest of the altar was not evacuated in time. Then the rector of the cathedral, with the help of the faithful parishioners, hid the altar in a secret place. Bursting into Ghent, the Germans rushed to the Cathedral of St. Bavo. But the altar seemed to have sunk into the water! The Germans turned the city upside down, not even realizing that the jewel was under their noses, in a house located next to the commandant's office. After the enemy retreated from Belgium, the altar was returned to the cathedral to the sound of bells. To celebrate, a celebration was held in Ghent.
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But the people rejoiced much more on September 29, 1920, when at 11 am a car drove into the square in front of the cathedral with a part of the altar that had been sold more than a hundred years ago, brought from a Berlin museum. On November 6, 1920, the altar returned to its place, on the occasion of which a national celebration was announced in Belgium. It seemed that the altar would never again leave the walls of his native cathedral, but fate decreed otherwise.
MONEY ON A BARREL
On April 11, 1934, part of the polyptych entitled "Righteous Judges" disappeared. The Belgians had no doubt: the handiwork of the Nazis! Hitler was obsessed with turning his hometown of Linz into a cultural center. The Ghent altar was to occupy one of the central places there.
In reality, everything was much simpler and more mysterious. Under cover of night, an unknown thief entered the cathedral using the lock pick. While the police were investigating, the Ghent bishop received a letter offering to return the stolen paintings in exchange for a million francs. With the permission of the police, the bishop entered into correspondence with the criminal. In order to convince the priest that he owns the treasure, the stranger left half of the sawn panel at the metropolitan station. For the second part, he still demanded a million.
The labeled banknotes were placed in an envelope, but there were only 25,000 in it. The police planned to track whoever came for the envelope at the specified address and to find the robbers. But the criminal managed to get away from surveillance. On his own initiative, the bishop started a correspondence again. The thieves insisted on a million, otherwise they promised to destroy the masterpiece. A fundraiser was announced across Belgium. One of the most active fundraisers, banker Arsene Godetier, fell unconscious while speaking to benefactors. When he woke up, he whispered that he knew where the treasure was hidden, but did not have time to finish - he died of a heart attack. So the banker took the secret of the "Righteous Judges" with him to the grave forever.
ALI BABA CAVE
During World War II, the Belgians sent the altar to France to prevent Hitler from getting it. In the midst of military confusion, a train with an altar traveled around Europe for ten days, but in the end it still fell into the hands of the Nazis. The altar was transported to the Bavarian Neuschwanstein Castle. Hitler demanded that his subordinates find the "Righteous Judges". The "browns" dug up the entire Ghent upside down, including the Cathedral of Saint Bavo, the house of the banker Godetier and even his grave, it remains only to try fortune-telling for Christmas … In vain. The "righteous judges" seem to have evaporated …
When the Allies began bombing Bavaria, the Nazis began to look for a safer place for the looted valuables. The choice fell on a salt mine in Austria, where the construction of an underground museum began. In September 1944, the altar was delivered there.
Having landed in Austria, the Americans began to look for valuables stolen by Hitler, including the Ghent Altarpiece. The case helped. Art critic Robert Posey, during a visit to the dentist, learned that the doctor's son-in-law was in charge of the collection of stolen goods. In fact, he turned out to be an assistant to Goering and Hitler, doctor of art history, and concurrently SS Sturmführer Hermann Bunez. In exchange for a pardon, he told about the cache.
On May 3, 1945, amid chaos, the Allies disarmed the guards and took control of all the entrances to the museum city. Five days later, after the underground was cleared of mines, Robert Posey, like Ali Baba, descended into the treasure cave.
In the summer of 1945, the loot began to be returned to the owners. Robert Posey personally accompanied the Ghent pearl during its transportation to Belgium. The plane got into a severe thunderstorm, lost its course and barely made it to an abandoned military air base a hundred kilometers from the Belgian capital. Despite the obstacles, the masterpiece returned home again. On October 30, 1945, an agitated Posei listened to a solemn mass in the Cathedral of Saint Bavo and admired the creation of the Van Eyck brothers. The place of the stolen and never found "Righteous Judges" was taken by a copy written by the restorer van der Veken on the door of a cabinet two hundred years ago. The Belgians believe that someday the original will be found and will return to their paradise on earth.
Lyubov Dyakova