From 2023, seven panels of The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by the Van Eyck brothers (more commonly known as the Ghent Altarpiece) will be restored in the heart of the MSK. You could already follow the campaign from 2012 to 2019, and now the remaining panels are coming to the museum for the final restoration phase. During the week, you can see the restorers of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK) live at work, in the studio behind glass. During the weekend the panels are placed on a location visible to visitors.
The first phase of the restoration was completed at the end of 2016, the second phase at the end of 2019. The restored exterior panels and the five panels from the lower register of the altarpiece then returned to the visitor center in St Bavo Cathedral and can still be viewed there.
The current , third and final phase concentrates on the upper register with the enthroned figures of God, the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist, the singing and music playing angels and Adam and Eve. There is no doubt that, here too, overpaint was added over time, which preferably should be removed. This third phases includes new challenges, such as the treatment of particularly fragile zones of brocade imitations in tin relief on the thrones of the central figures, as well as other polychromies on silver and gold. The restorers should complete the restoration in April 2026. Then the altarpiece will be seen back in its completely restored state in the Sacrament’s Chapel of St. Bavo’s Cathedral.