Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece (Lochner)
The Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece is a painted triptych by the German artist Stefan Lochner, created c. 1440–1442. Originally painted for the council-chapel St. [Maria in Jerusalem] in Cologne, it was moved to Cologne Cathedral in 1810 and is now in that church's Marienkapelle, south of the choir. It is also known as the Three Kings Altarpiece and the Patron Saints of Cologne Altarpiece.
History
The first written mention of the painting is in the travel diaries of Albrecht Dürer, who saw it in 1520 whilst he was en route to the Netherlands, noting that he paid two Weißpfennig to see a painting by "Master Steffan of Cologne".The altarpiece's original location, St. Maria in Jerusalem, replaced a former Jewish synagogue. This happened the year after the expulsion of all Jews from Cologne in 1423, and an earlier 1349 pogrom that had damaged the synagogue. The altarpiece originally sat on the stone base used to support the synagogue's Torah ark.
On 3 April 2025, the Cologne Cathedral announced that a mural by Andrea Büttner would soon be painted on the wall behind the Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece. Büttner designed a life-size realistic painting of the Torah ark's stone base that the altarpiece had rested on, but now painted so the base appears to float above the altarpiece. The mural is designed to counter the overwriting of History of [the Jews in Cologne|Jewish history in Cologne], and was the winner of the Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition, which aimed to add art on Jewish-Christian relations to the cathedral. Büttner stated that she wanted her piece to "take something that has been hidden from the cathedral's visitors up to now and have it openly displayed in a central location."
Imagery
The altarpiece centres on the Three Kings, whose relics were in Cologne. The central panel is 260 x 285 cm, whilst each of the side panels is 260 by 142 cm. On the left panel is Ursula of Cologne with some of the 11,000 virgins with whom she was martyred, and on the right panel is St Gereon of Cologne.When the altarpiece is closed, the reverse of the two side panels show an Annunciation scene.