For the first time, all six magnificent tapestries made from wool and silk in Brussels in the 17th century can be viewed up close with their wealth of detail. The cathedral treasury includes six tapestries with scenes from Genesis that were painstakingly hand-woven from wool and silk in the manufactory of Jan Aerts (active from 1614 to 1635) in Brussels.
Scenes about Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel (Gen 2-4)
1 God releases Adam into paradise
2. the creation of Eve and the prohibition to eat from the tree of knowledge
3 Adam and Eve's work after the Fall
4 The sacrifice of Cain and Abel
5 Cain slays Abel
6 God curses Cain or Cain flees from the wrath of God
The Creation of Eve and the Prohibition to Eat from the Tree of Knowledge (detail), 2nd quarter 17th century © Dommuseum/Auer
The largest measures 414 x 710 cm, the smallest 417 x 440 cm. The busy painter Michiel Coxcie (around 1499-1592) from Mechelen, who was influenced by Raphael, originally designed the Genesis paintings for tapestries that the Polish King Sigismund II. August in Brussels before 1550 to decorate Wawel Castle in Krakow.
Further series were created in different manufactories based on the same designs: the series of the Bavarian National Museum and the Bavarian Palace Administration with different borders around 1555, the series of La Granja de San Ildefonso Castle near Segovia (around 1640) with the same border as in Salzburg and the series of Burgos Cathedral (1625/1635) with a different border - but also by Jan Aerts. Two individual pieces (around 1640/1660) can be found in the Grand Ducal Palace in Vilnius. A final series, produced in smaller formats around 1670, adorns the Villa Hügel in Essen.
There is no entirely reliable record of when the tapestries came to the cathedral - it is assumed that it was under Prince Archbishop Paris Lodron. A brief invoice note speaks more for Prince Archbishop Sigismund Schrattenbach, who donated 5,000 fl. from his private coffers "in front of the trellis in the cathedral" in 1761. "Spalier" was a common term for a tapestry in the 18th century. However, the tapestries are not mentioned in any inventory during the reign of Schrattenbach or his successor Hieronymus Colloredo. In any case, they were stored in the north oratory at the end of the 19th century, as can be seen from an inventory from 1899.
In the past, the tapestries were only hung in the nave of the cathedral for special festivities, most recently on the occasion of a concert at the Salzburg Festival with Nikolaus Harnoncourt in 2012. For conservation reasons, it is no longer planned to hang them in the cathedral in future. The creation story can also be used to ask how the biblical text is to be interpreted and what responsibility for creation means.
March 9 to October 13, 2025
