The Ghent Altarpiece

A day trip to Ghent, to visit Sint-Baafskathedraal, and see, arguably, the greatest painting in the world - the magnificent "Adoration of the Sacred Lamb" by the Van Eyck brothers in 1432. Since our last visit an augmented reality exhibition has been added, about which I was dubious but which was very interesting and enjoyable.

Following a short wander through the city, we then went to Opera Ghent to see arguably the most absurd operatic production in the world, Carl Maria von Weber's "Der Freischutz" is a perfectly pleasant work, written in 1821. It did not deserve a modern production, involving long added sections of Pinteresque speech (it wasn't really dialogue as none of the characters seemed to pay any attention what the others were saying) and an angry furniture moving scene in the second half. The cast and orchestra were fine but the direction was not. Certainly memorable.