The Gurreby altarpiece dating from 1518 is one of around 130.000 artefacts from the National Museum’s collections that are currently designated as being of Outstanding National Importance (ENB)
 
The altarpiece was probably made at a workshop in or around Lübeck. In the central compartment the Virgin Mary stands in a crescent moon. She is crowned and holds the naked baby Jesus in front of her. The 12 apostles and a half portrait of God are placed in the clouds around her. At the bottom of the compartment a holy bishop and a crowned virgin kneel.  Just under the crescent moon sits a small man, maybe  John in whose revelation the lady in the crescent moon is described.  In the side panels are a total of 12 saints. They have been carefully chosen and form groups of three; three women, Barbara, Anne Selvtredje and Margaretha, three bishops of which we can recognise two; Blasius and Erasmus. Next come Christopher, Mary Magdelene and Saint George and the dragon and finally Antonius, Morten and Leonard.

The conservation
The altarpiece’s original decoration, that is to say the chalk base layer, gilding and paint layers, are generally well-preserved even after more than 485 years. However, the paint layers are unstable and coming loose in large areas due to movement within the wood and it consequently requires conservation. In the workshop conservators use glue to carefully attach the loose paint layers to the supporting wood.  At the same time the surface is cleaned of dust and dirt.
 
Areas with missing gilt or paint will not be recreated and repainted, but the conservators will impaint minimally using watercolours. Therefore after conservation the altarpiece won’t appear with the same strong colours and shining gilding with which it was created  but will show us what is left of the beautiful original material after the wear and tear of time

The Outstanding National Importance (ENB) project at the National Museum  
The Ministry of Culture’s  2004 ” Statement on the preservation  of Cultural Heritage” resulted in additional resources for conservation  of the National Museum’s collections. Consequently 130,000 of the museums artefacts with Outstanding National Importance (ENB) have been selected as being particularly worthy of preservation. Conservators at the museum have assessed and registered the state of preservation of the ONI artefacts in preparation for a 10 year preservation plan. The preservation work includes conservation of degraded museum artefacts and improvement of storage facilities for the National Museum’s extensive collections. This fundamental work will ensure that the collections continue to be avaliable for the benefit of research, exhibition and education.