Missing Adoration Of The Mystic Lamb Altarpiece Hidden Under Square In Ghent, Says Sleuth

[Wire154a]

Daily Mail:

Stolen 15th Century masterpiece hidden under Belgian city square, claims armchair detective who says he cracked a six-word clue left by the thief

• Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, known as the Ghent Altarpiece, is incomplete
• Two panels were stolen in famous 1934 heist and only one was ever returned
• Thirteen ransom notes sent and a 14th later found believed to reveal location
• Gino Marchal claims to have deciphered cryptic 14th note and hiding place
• Claims it is hidden in passages under Kalandeberg square in central Ghent
• Ghent's mayor is taking the theory seriously and planning to mount a search

the story at the link

 

[flute4peace]

This sounds fascinating!

 

[Wire154a]

Here's some background from the Guardian, 2013 and 2016, respectively:

The Ghent Altarpiece: the truth about the most stolen artwork of all time

Restored and ravishing: the magnificent Ghent Altarpiece gives up its centuries-old mysteries

 

[Wire154a]

Also, a very concise look from NPR, 2010:

Is This The World's Most Coveted Painting?

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

Stunning! If I could have just one panel, I'd take the Virgin Mary.

 

[Wire154a]

Independent:

Treasure-hunting Belgians warned to keep pickaxes away after claim lost masterpiece hidden beneath street

 

[Wire154a]

Guardian, again:

Puzzler says he has cracked code to stolen Belgian masterpiece
Citizens told not to dig up square in Ghent to look for 15th-century painting missing since 1934

[Gino] Marchal believes he has found the key to the mystery in five words and one number in the final unsent letter. [Marchal and Marc de Bel's] book is called The Fourteenth Letter.

“In the fourteenth letter there were six words which were very strange,” he said. “But I worked out that four of the words identified places in Ghent, although old names for them. The fifth word was the number 152. If you go 152 metres from the four locations, there is one point where the routes will meet. And this location was very close to a cafe that Goedertier went to all the time.”

The final piece in the jigsaw, Marchal told the Guardian, was when he realised that if you drew the routes on a map from the four locations to the potential hiding place, the letters for the name “Nina” emerged. Nina was the sixth and final of the mystery words on the page.

​

 

[fred&edna]

I stumbled on something not long ago regarding this/these paintings... I could zoom-in/out, and read details and some explanations.

I think this is the link. I didn't realize so many details until I really started zooming-in... and those details are everywhere!

Closer to Van Eyck