Klosterneuburg Abbey - Verdun Altar

A flight of steps in the Klosterneuburg Abbey leads down into the 12th C. St Leopold's Chapel (originally the chapterhouse), where Leopold III is buried and in which, behind a richly wrought screen, can be seen the famous Verdun Altar. Perhaps the finest existing example of medieval enamel work, this consists of 51 panels of champlevé work on gilded copper depicting Biblical scenes by Nicholas of Verdun (1181), originally on the ambo (reading pulpit) of the Romanesque church. After a fire in 1329 the panels were put together to form the present winged altarpiece. The remains of the founder are contained in a silver reliquary. Four painted panels, affixed to the altar in 1331 and the oldest in Austria (painted in Vienna before 1329) are now in the abbey museum. Note also the beautiful 14th and 15th C. stained glass in the chapel.