The Ghent Altarpiece appears at first glance to be complex, but the Main Message can be briefly summarised. The polyptych brings the core of the Christian teaching into focus. Everything begins with Adam and Eve, whom we shall see presently. They disobey God in the Garden of Eden: this is the so-called “Original Sin”. Ever since, and because of this, humans are mortal. Heaven and eternal life are out of their reach until God allows his son, Jesus Christ, to become human, offer himself up in order to save humanity from their sins, and thereby to bring salvation to them. We saw these scenes on the tapestry at the start of the exhibition. Christ offers his blood for us like a sacrificial lamb. This refers to the concept of the “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb”, the actual title of the altarpiece. However, after his death, he rises from his tomb: Christ is resurrected! From that moment onward, people of faith can again ascend into heaven. The whole world and humanity are therefore eternally grateful to God and Christ. That is what we see on these festive, densely populated interior panels, when the Ghent Altarpiece is opened. This usually happens onely on religious holidays. On the closed altarpiece you will see the couple that commissioned the work, images of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, as well as the Virgin Mary and the angel Gabriel. All of the panels are to be seen here at the exhibition. We’ll tell you all about them later in this audio-guide. On the Ghent Altarpiece, the Latin texts reveal what we are seeing. So, be assured, even clever contemporaries of Jan van Eyck could also use some illumination on the subject.