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The Golden Altar of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan is the liturgical focus and spiritual centre of the archiepiscopal city. It is also an extraordinary monument of early medieval art. The narratives that adorn its front and back - stories of the lives of Christ and of Ambrose - are just two of the many features that secure the altar's power and prestige. Other features include the altar's precious materials, its consummate artistry, its status as the tomb of both the bishop Ambrose and martyrs and its theatrical setting in the church, framed as it is by a ciborium, an apse mosaic, and an elevated floor with a crypt below.
We know today about the Carolingian sculpture thanks to the Carolingian reliefs, mainly from the works of embossed goldsmith and the plaques carved in ivory. The greatest silversmith of the imperial palace at Aachen, considered a master in the art of casting and chiseling, was the biographer of Charlemagne himself: the modest and applied Einhard. No jewel or ivory has been clearly identified as the work of Einhard, but the great golden altar of St. Ambrose of Milan is signed by Vuolvinus or Volvinios, who is mentioned as his disciple.
The reliefs of the altar of Milan were executed in a style used in other works of contemporary goldsmithing similar to the style of the miniatures produced in the scriptorium of the imperial palace at Aachen, whose director was also Einhard.
The side of the altar facing the people is gold, that facing the apse (the back side) is silver.
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