Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Conrad von Soest

With more than 500.000 inhabitants Hannover is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Hannover was founded in medieval times on the east bank of the River Leine. It was a small village of ferrymen and fishermen. It became a comparatively large town in the 13th century, receiving town privileges in 1241, owing to its position at natural crossroads It was connected to the Hanseatic city of Bremen by the Leine and was situated north-west of the Harz mountains so that east-west traffic passed through it. Between 1714 and 1837 three kings of Great Britain were concurrently also Electoral Princes of Hanover. As an important railway and road junction and production centre, Hannover was a major target for strategic bombing during WW II. More than 90% of the city centre was destroyed in a total of 88 bombing raids. So today Hannover lacks it´s medieval heart. Originally the Museum of "Kunst und Wissenschaft" (art and science) inaugurated in 1856 in the presence of George V of Hanover. After the annexation of Hanover by Prussia, the museum was integrated into the Provincial Museum, as it was called from 1869. The museum ran out of space for its art collections, prompting the construction of the current building in 1902. Extensive renovations and modernisations were carried out in the interior from 1995 to 2000, reopening on 13 May 2000 as part of Expo 2000. Today the museum comprises the state gallery (Landesgalerie), featuring paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, and departments of archaeology, natural history and ethnology. Die Goldene Tafel, Lüneburg, 1429/30 When closed, the everyday view, a scene from the Old Testament is juxtaposed with a scene from the New Testament. When the panels were opened on certain feast days, presents the life, passion, and resurrection of Christ in 36 scenes, read in three columns from left to right. In a recent research project at the altar was extensively examined from an art historical and art-scientific perspective, laying the foundation for the subsequent three-year restoration, which was successfully completed in 2019. Various artists worked on this highly complex altar. At least two workshops can be distinguished within the paintings: the first, a painter from the circle of Conrad von Soest, designed the scenes, and the second, presumably from Cologne, executed the paintings.

Local tradition knows that Dortmund was founded by Charlemagne in the course of the Saxon Wars. The first written mention of "Throtmanni" dates back to 882. In 1152, a court day was held in Dortmund under King Frederick Barbarossa. Craftsmen and merchants settled and so Dortmund developed into a city. A fire in 1232 almost completely destroyed the town. The fire also caused the loss of the town's archives and with them all documents from the time before the fire. Dortmund's privileges, which had been lost in the fire, were renewed by Frederick II in 1236. In 1293 the city was granted the brewing right and unprecedented development of the beer industry within the city began. In 1389, Dortmund survived the "Great Dortmund Feud" against the Count of the Mark and the Archbishop of Cologne. However, an economic decline was initiated. This process was continued and intensified by the Thirty Years' War and led to the city's decline, with the population falling to 4500 by 1793. Dortmund became an exclave of the Principality of Orange-Nassau. In 1808 Dortmund became part of the Napoleonic Grand Duchy of Berg. After the Prussian victory over Napoleon, Dortmund fell to the Prussian province of Westphalia in 1815. From the mid of 19th century, Dortmund's renewed rise and transformation into an industrial city began due to coal mining and steel processing. Since the opening of the railroad in 1847, Dortmund became a transportation hub in the Ruhr region. Another contribution to development came in 1899 with the opening of the Dortmund-Ems Canal. This infrastructure paved Dortmund's way to becoming a major city. The city grew beyond the narrow confines of the medieval ramparts. By the outbreak of WWII, the townscape had changed from a farming town to a metropolitan appearance. During WWII, more than 100 air raids destroyed more than 90 percent of the city, including its historic churches. Reconstruction proceeded quickly, and by 1950 the city had 500,000 inhabitants. Today, with about 590,000 inhabitants, Dortmund is part of the "Ruhr district", a polycentric urban area. With a population of over 5 million, it is the largest urban area in Germany. - This altar created by Conrad von Soest (1370 - 1422) around 1420 is considered a masterpiece of the late Gothic period. The triptych is the latest known work of the painter, which he completed shortly before his death. The altar is preserved only as a fragment. It was originally designed as a lockable altar retable. The pictures belonged to a Gothic winged altar. In order to fit the panels into a Baroque altar structure about 16 meters high, they were trimmed in 1720. In the carved baroque altar the paintings were arranged differently. In the lower part were the two outer panels, clearly above them in a vaulted arch was the central panel. At the lower edge, the panels were painted over with banners about 20 cm high. In 1848, the back was covered with newspaper to protect it from final destruction. In 1926, on the occasion of a restoration, the outer panels were to be sawed off. For an exhibition in Cologne, the parish had made the altar available. The curator of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne then proposed a deal to the parish: The museum wanted to take over the complete restoration and in return detach and keep the outer panels. The üarish turned that down. During WWII, the baroque high altar was destroyed in a bombing raid but the panels had been removed and thus were saved. In 1957, the paintings were placed in modern metal frames and in their original order.