After the Council of Trent, the Roman church celebrated the glory of God and of itself in baroque style. In a deliberate contrast to the Protestant churches, the Catholic church placed the emphasis on seeing and hearing (the music of the organ). As the site of the transubstantiation and storage of the consecrated host, the high altar represented the "treasury of grace" of the church.
Altar of the parish church of St. Remigius in Mettau in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, colour photograph, 2011, photographer: Rauenstein; source: Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mettau,_Altar_der_Kirche_St._Remigius.jpg?uselang=de.