Marienaltar veit stoss biography

Krakow's Gothic Masterpiece by Veit Stoss 

Krakow is blessed with masterworks by the greatest sculptor of the Gothic art, Veit Stoss (or Wit Stwosz, circa 1440 to 1533).

He lived and worked here for 19 years, and he sacrificed twelve of them (1477 to 1489) to carve in wood his best work ever: three-story-high altarpiece in the basilica of the Virgin Mary's at Krakow’s central Grand Square. 

The 42-foot-high and 36-foot-wide Veit Stoss' magnum opus is the largest Gothic sculpture in the world.

Marienaltar veit stoss biography wikipedia

It consists of 200 fine limewood sculptures treated with color and gold foil. The central part, with huge lifelike statues of the saints, depicts dramatically the Virgin Mary's Quietus among the Apostles. Looking upwards one sees the Ascension of Our Lady and Lord. And at the top there is the Madonna’s Heavenly Coronation b