This triptych depicts three major moments in Christ’s life: His birth, His death on the cross between the two robbers and His Resurrection two days later. Michiel Coxcie, the painter who brought the Italian Renaissance to the Southern Netherlands, created the Crucifixion in 1579, made the portrait of the abbot and painted the Resurrected Christ. It was only much later that Jan van Cleef would paint the scenes on the front side panels.
This church has been a dynamic meeting place for pilgrims, local residents and the occasional passer-by for centuries, a diversity of visitors that has clearly manifested itself in the appearance of the building. A seemingly insatiable urge to build and rebuild has given the church its current design and has made it into a unique example of almost 900 years of church architecture in Ghent.