The Little Nose War and a Trip to St. Bavo's

The Little Nose War and a Trip to St. Bavo's

Center Panel

I got a phone call from my friend Michelle. I told her I was in Belgium.  The first question out of her mouth was, Did you go and see the Ghent Altarpiece again?  I bet I'm the only person to ask you that?!?  I was thinking the same thing but how could I weasel another trip Northward out of Stu?  His patience for my love of churches has to have some limit?  I'm to the point where I can barely identify which church was in what town and yet Stu can actually name them.  When we were in Florence about the best I could do was, Did you mean the white one by that grocery store?

A Walking Street

Ghent was another wealthy city in the North of Flanders, the Dutch speaking side of Belgium. Its main industry was trade and wool. It was also a busy port and in its time was larger than Paris or Moscow.  

On a Canal Bridge

 

A little piece of trivia, the treaty ending the War of 1812 was signed here.

Something we discovered in Belgium was the Cuberdon, a cone shaped jellybeanish candy filled with a soft jelly center.  They are ok but probably great if you grew up with them.  We bought a bag on the street and thought nothing of it.  Apparently, there was a serious incident over the candy called the Little Nose War as two vendors literally duked it out for customers on the rough cobblestones of Ghent. There was even a two week ban on the noses.  Serious stuff.  .  If you would like to read more about the shenanigans, click here . In the end, I'm not sure if I got the real noses….or the cheap imitations.

The Cuberdon

Ghent is a pretty Bourgeoise university town.  Unlike Bruges, it feels like a living city.  It would make the perfect backdrop for any period movie.  The architecture is charmingly Flemish, often with stepped roof edifices and varied brickwork of a wide range of dates and levels of decay.  If you are looking for a few slower -paced days in Europe, I would easily place Ghent on your shortlist. It is incredibly beautiful. There are plenty of terraces to enjoy coffee, beer and tallow-fried fries with mayo on a probably not sunny day on a square.  If you suffer from a short attention span, Bruges is also a very short trip North.

We had briefly been to Ghent before and had strolled around town for an afternoon.  We did the same this time but really came to Ghent for one thing; St. Bavo's Cathedral

Another Cool Old Building

Sint-Baafs Cathedral (charming name, huh?) was Gothically started around 1274.  It stands 89 meter tall and looks like a skyscraper from the edge of town. I say Gothically started because history never takes a break.   Remember Genesis in the Bible?  No, ask the President, it is his favorite book.  Well, the Cliffnotes version contains begat begat begat begat. Basically, Any old church may have started as a pagan site that then became consecrated and like tiramisu, added a layer of bodies under a chapel, then that burned down, was rebuilt, added more bodies because they forgot about the first layer and so on until you have what is in front of you. Saint Bavo's likely started out as a humble chapel around 950.  Three years before it was finished, the icon-bashing Calvinists almost destroyed the place.  Damn extremists.

Beautiful Old Buildings

The Church is an impressive sight. From the outside.  When I go into a church my first question is always, Would God live here?  (I'm convinced Protestant churches are really God's hospitals since they are so sterile.). If God occasionally visits St. Bavo's, he doesn't maintain the utilities.  The place is dark, damp, and what's the word I'm looking for…oh yeah, gloomy.  Ouch.  My dad used to complain (whine) about being around old and moldy things.  Well, yours truly has the same problem now and the doctors don't even know the cause.  Even the tapestries at the Louvre have gotten me sick.  This is the first church I have ever entered that has gotten me sick.  I get weak, wired, and sweaty.  As soon as I feel this way, I know I am on the clock.  Just about everything, including a Rubens, needs to be cleaned.  The varnish on everything in yellowed from candles and time.   Get the vibe?  I don't feel God in there.

Lovely Canal

The real magic happens at the front of the church behind the 4.50$ peep show curtain.  The first time I entered this room, I was too sick to enjoy the visit.  This time, I sorta came prepared. I had a huge scarf wrapped around my neck covering the back of my head and my mouth.  I had to look strange.  Since I was in a church, I couldn't wear a hat to protect my head.  Know what happens when you cover your mouth with a scarf indoors?  Your glasses fog up.  Timing my breaths in the dim light, I finally got the take my time and enjoy The Ghent Altarpiece or its proper name, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.  One of the reasons I love Art is that it doesn't happen in a vacuum.  It is a moment in time of thought, theology, and even progress.  This is considered the first major artwork painted in oil. The altarpiece was painted probably with the assistance of fine lenses.  If you have ever been in the presence of a Great Northern Gothic/Early Northern Renaissance masterpiece, your nose prevents you from getting your eyes close enough to the panel to see the brushstrokes.   Take a glance at Van Eyck's masterpiece, The Annunciation located in the National Gallery in DC. https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights/van-eyck-the-annunciation.html .  The only reason that painting is in America is because it was smuggled out of the Heritage in Saint Petersburg, Russia during the Russian Revolution.  I'm not sure there is much in the States that compares to this painting for me.  How could man possibly create this without divine touch and inspiration? I've had this thought every time I have seen it.  Unlike The Annunciation, The Ghent Altarpiece is dimly lit and hangs several feet behind bulletproof glass.

Serious Detail

We walk into the dimly lit room to see the polyptych… CLOSED.

Let me step back a sec.  A polyptych is basically a many paneled devotional piece that opens to reveal devotional scenes within.  When closed, there are paintings on the reverse side of the panels.  These devotionals could be home-sized and opened for praying or cathedral-sized and opened---when it was time to open it (I have no idea when that is, mind you.). It was like Bruges all over again.  We come to Ghent to find the picture unviewable.  Is it ok to swear in church if you only use your inner voice?  Just then, the guard came around and opened the panels.  

How many things have you seen, or want to see, in this world that you just know are a moment in your life?  The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb falls into that category for me.  When most people see the Mona Lisa, they are totally bummed.  She is small and missing eyebrows.  She might even be a drag queen.  People are mean.  They talk.  The altarpiece, however, is massive and intricate.  You wish you could get close enough to see it up close.  To do it justice, you would need a cherrypicker.  It is just too tall. Christ is depicted as Pantocrator in Oriental regalia.  Pantocrator was a theme word of our trip.  The term first appeared in Greece and followed us throughout the trip.  It was unusual to see Christ as Pantocrator in Ghent. Pantocrator is a Eastern Christian theological concept of Christ as the all powerful judge Who is mild but stern.  I hope I am not boring you too much.  The depiction of the lamb of god at the center of the painting feels magical to me.  It delights me.  It makes me smile.  I feel happy.  I hope the moment would never end it is so wonderful.  After about 15 minutes, you realize it is time to go and you just don't want to leave.  Will you be back to see it again?  When?  Why have I been blessed with the gift to see this in person, let alone twice?  I don't know why I find it so special.  I guess that is how love works.  It's not about answers to questions.  In all the various scenes, my eye always comes back to the actual lamb of God at the center—sacrificial yet vibrant and peaceful.  I guess it's just love.  It is considered by many historians to be the most coveted and influential painting ever made.  That's quite the billing. 

Perdy Building

Ok, now for the cool part.  This altarpiece has quite the stories to tell.  Hitler wanted it as a centerpiece for his stolen art museum, it was taken by Napoleon, dismembered along the way, and stolen more than once during WWII.  Unfortunately, the last theft plays out like a movie that is too unbelievable to ever make it past a bad script.  While trying to recover a stolen panel, the only person who knew the location of the panel dropped dead of a heart attack at the train station during the ransom drop.  You can read more about it here. Fortunately, it is a short article.

If you would like to hear a 7 minute NPR piece on the painting, try this link  .