Aachen Altar Aachen Altar The Aachen Altar (de: "Aachener Altar") or Passion Altar ("Passionsaltar") is a late gothic passion triptych in the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, made by the so-called Master of the Aachen Altar around 1515/20 in Cologne, Germany. The open, three winged polyptych altar image shows scenes from the Passion of Christ to his Ascension in continuous sequence from left to right. At the assumed time of composition, this type of depiction was already well-established. On the left wing of the altar, Jesus is crowned with the Crown of thorns and confronts Pontius Pilate. The central panel depicts the Stations of
Altar cloth in use. In the early 20th century the Roman Catholic Church considered only linen or hemp to be acceptable as material for altar cloths, although in earlier centuries silk or cloth of gold or silver were used. The Anglican Communion had similar rules in that period. At that time, the Roman Rite required the use of three altar cloths, to which a cere cloth, not classified as an altar cloth, was generally added. This was a piece of heavy linen treated with wax ("cera", from which "cere" is derived, is the Latin word for "wax") to protect the altar linens