Verduner Altar

Verdun Altar, an important work of Romanesque enamel art (sunk enamel) on gilded copperplates, made in 1181 by order of provost Wernher of Klosterneuburg by the Lorraine enamel artist and goldsmith Nikolaus von Verdun (b. before 1150 Verdun, d. after 1205) as panelling for a pulpit parapet; after fire damage (1330), the 51 enamel panels were reassembled in 1331 to form a wing altar in three parts for the provost Stephans von Sierndorf, and 6 panels were restored in the style of the 12^th century. At the same time 4 panel paintings by the artist were added to the rear sides of the Verdun altar; these are the oldest specimens of panel painting in Central Europe; the extensive inscriptions on the frame provide information on how the enamel panels were made and completed and what they depict: pictures from the Old and the New Testament representing the entire history of the Salvation. Today the Verdun Altar is displayed in the St. Leopold chapel (former chapter house) of Klosterneuburg Abbey and serves as an altar at the grave of Margrave Leopold III, while the panels of the rear side of the altar are exhibited in the abbey museum.

Literature: H. Buschhausen, Der Verduner Altar, 1980; F. Dahm, Studien zur Ikonographie des Klosterneuburger Emailwerkes des Nikolaus von Verdun, doctoral thesis, Vienna 1988.