Germany
Saxony
Upper Lusatia
Görlitz
Zittau
Church of the Holy Cross & Great Zittau Lenten Veil
Germany
Saxony
Upper Lusatia
Görlitz
Zittau
Church of the Holy Cross & Great Zittau Lenten Veil
Hiking Highlight
Recommended by 110 out of 115 hikers
Location: Zittau, Görlitz, Upper Lusatia, Saxony, Germany
Church of the Holy Cross, Zittau
Museum Church of the Holy Cross
In the Museum Church of the Holy Cross, the Great Zittau Lenten Veil from 1472 is on display in the largest museum display case in the world (Guinness Book of Records). Of the few museums worldwide that own a Lenten veil, only here can it be shown in its original function of covering the altar. The 8.20 m high and 6.80 m wide cloth tells the biblical story from the creation of the world to the Last Judgement in 90 pictures. Along with the Bayeux Tapestry, it is one of the most impressive textile works of art in Western tradition. Of the total of 18 Lenten veils of this type, it is the only one that has survived in Germany. The more than 600-year-old burial church, with its precious early Baroque furnishings, numerous graves and epitaphs, and the museum cemetery, also offers a unique testimony to bourgeois-urban sepulchral culture.
Text / Source: Tourist Information, Zittau
zittau.de/tourismus-kultur-freizeit/sehenswertes/museum-kirche-zum-heiligen-kreuz
October 21, 2023
It is the jewel among Zittau's churches and has retained its current appearance since 1410. The star vault is particularly beautiful inside, with its ribs converging in a single central pillar (single-pillar church, high Gothic). Zittau's greatest treasure, the "Great Zittau Lenten Veil" from 1472, is located in the Cross Church. Its type and design are unique in Germany and represent one of the most important cultural treasures of the Middle Ages.
(Source: zittau-tour.de/de/node/77)
May 7, 2018
In addition to the Great Lenten Cloth in the Museum Church of the Holy Cross, even the little one should not be forgotten in the Cultural History Museum Franciscan Monastery
December 27, 2018
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