Up to 1901, a watchman's house hid one lower part of the 15th-century choir of Saint George Church (Joriskerk) at Amersfoort. When the watchman's house was pulled down, 16th-century paintings were discovered on the outside wall and buttresses of the choir. They represented Christ bearing the cross and Veronica, and on the side of a buttress Christ on the cold stone. The faces of all main figures had been destroyed by vandals. Both paintings were restored in 1902. Due to the sudden change in climate, the painting deteriorated quickly, necessitating further restoration in 1904. Disintegration must have been serious, as gauze was glued all over the paintings with a thick varnish, and framed glass was mounted in front of them. Yet a third restoration was planned in 1940, to be executed two years later. At this time, the paintings had become so dirty that the church authorities thought Saint George had been the main figure and the restorer actually spoke of uncovering the paintings. As the condition declined further in the 1970s, the Central Research Laboratory was asked to devise a better solution for the future conservation of these fragile objects. At first, an air-conditioned glasshouse was considered, to be constructed between the outer edges of two buttresses. Even then, the partially disintegrated plaster layer and stratified painting would have to be removed and consolidated on new isolated supports. On second consideration this idea of refitted frame-mounted paintings in a conditioned glasshouse was dropped, as the new contraption, surrounded by shops, would have looked like an empty shop window with a rather indistinct picture in the background. A two-step solution was preferred: 1) removal and consolidation of the paintings and safe exhibition inside the church; 2) reconstructed representation, executed in modern water glass technique on the original site. Removal was a tricky job as these murals belong to the group of so-called paintings on red ground, their thickness (plaster plus stratified paint layer) varying 1-7 mm. The hypothetical completion of the heavily damaged pictures was not simple either. In retrospect, the reactions to the transfer were mixed. While there was some satisfaction with the technical accomplishments, there was sadness about the removal of the murals from their original site.