Exhibitions Naumburg (Saale) Altars Much Discussed Naumburg Cathedral Culture

Naumburg (dpa) – The artwork was completed almost 500 years after its partial destruction and has caused heated debates – also about the Unesco World Heritage title of Naumburg Cathedral: the Cranach-Triegel altar is now coming out of the cathedral. This Sunday, the public can get one last look at the artwork before it is soon on display at the Diocesan Museum in Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia. According to a spokeswoman, around 73,000 people have seen the altar in Naumburg since July. Other seasons are planned. He is expected to return in late 2024 or the first half of 2025.

The Leipzig painter Michael Triegel completed the altarpiece created by Lukas Cranach the Elder between 1517 and 1519 and later partially destroyed. He was ordained in July. The location of the altarpiece is disputed – in the west choir of the cathedral among famous donor figures such as Uta von Naumburg. United Cathedral Donors see the altar returned to its place of origin. From the point of view of experts from the Icomos World Heritage Council, the artwork undermines the “extremely sensitive visual relationships in the west choir”. Because of the location, there was even public discussion about a possible withdrawal of the cathedral’s world heritage title.

At the request of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, which sponsored the altar art project, the United Cathedral Donors shortened the duration of the exhibition. Three years were originally planned. Professor of monument preservation and Icomos expert Achim Hubel rejected the fact that Naumburg Cathedral’s World Heritage title, awarded in 2018, would be revoked if the altarpiece was not dismantled.

From Hubel’s point of view, the worst that can happen is an entry on the “Red List” of World Heritage in Danger. “Then it would have to be negotiated with UNESCO on how to prevent the title from being revoked – a process that normally takes years.” Hubel made it clear that he “can’t imagine the Red List club”.

Of the three-winged altarpiece, called the altarpiece, only the original two side parts by Cranach the Elder have been preserved. They were displayed in the cathedral’s treasury vault before the addition. The middle part was destroyed in 1541 during an anti-image campaign. The painter Triegel recreated it. The United Cathedral donors are certain that the altarpiece was originally created for the west choir, Icomos expert Hubel is convinced otherwise.