Thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (MKiDN) and the commitment of Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Prof. Piotr Glinski, a series of 7 paintings by the Brotherhood of St. Luke and 4 fabrics by Mieczyslaw Szymanski have returned to Poland after 83 years. The works were received by the Museum of Polish History in Warsaw, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
The works of art, which have been returned, were displayed in the Polish pavilion at the World Exhibition in New York from May 1939 to the end of 1940, depicting the most important events of Polish history, showing its contribution to the development of Western civilization, including relations with neighbors, traditions of tolerance and constitutionalism.
After the exhibition ended, due to the ongoing war in Europe, the works from the Polish pavilion were decided to be stored in the US. After the war ended, the paintings and four of Mieczyslaw Szymanski’s fabrics were placed at the disposal of Stefan Ropp, commissioner general of the Polish Pavilion, who transferred the entire collection to the care of the American Le Moyne College of Syracuse.
In May of this year, during a visit to the US, Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski finalized an agreement with the authorities of Le Moyne College, under which the works were to return to Poland.
The seven paintings by the Brotherhood of St. Luke, each measuring 120 x 200 cm, depict events from Polish history: “Meeting of Boleslaw the Brave with Otto III at the tomb of St. Adalbert (1000),” “Adoption of Christianity by Lithuania (1386),” “Granting of the Jedleń-Krakow Privilege (1430),” “Union of Lublin (1569),” “Adoption of the Warsaw Confederation for Religious Freedom (1573),” “The battle of Vienna (1683)” and “The Constitution of May 3 (1791). The 4 fabrics returning to Poland, presented at the exhibition in New York, were created from cutting a large fabric titled “Jan III Sobieski” and made for the World Exhibition in Paris in 1937, for which its author Mieczyslaw Szymanski received the Grand Prix.
Adrian Andrzejewski