These panels were commissioned for the private chapel in the castle of Ebreichsdorf, south of Vienna. The castle was originally a border defense for the city against invading Mongols, but in more peaceful times, toward the end of the fourteenth century, Rudolf von Tirna (d. 1406) decided to add a chapel to the castle, which he had refurbished as a country residence. The chapel glazings representing scenes from the life of Christ were commissioned from a royal workshop in Vienna; the Infancy cycle filled the north windows, scenes from Christ's public life were set in the south windows, and his Passion in the axial windows. Having withstood the Mongol attacks of the thirteenth century only to be plundered by the Turks in 1683, Ebreichsdorf never returned to its medieval splendor. Except for one panel in Vienna, The Cloisters windows are all that survive of the Ebreichsdorf glass.

Open full-size and alternate view(s)