The Kordegarda Gallery at the National Cultural Centre opened the exhibition ‘Lost/Recovered. From Wrocław Collections’. The opening ceremony was combined with the presentation of two newly recovered paintings: ‘Augustus Bridge in Dresden’ by Gotthardt Kuehl and ‘Markisch Heath’ by Karl Kayser-Eichberg.

“Today’s meeting is dedicated to just one place in Poland – the National Museum in Wrocław, which lost many works of art during and after the Second World War. All the objects that we can admire at the exhibition were recovered as a result of the inquisitive and careful work of many people. Today we admire its effects,” said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Piotr Gliński during the opening.

In the aftermath of World War II, Poland lost most of its material heritage, more than any other country.

“We should all remember that during World War II, Poland lost more than half a million works of art, historic buildings, and cultural assets not including books – after all, 70 per cent of our libraries were also destroyed. For many years we have been recovering more and more objects – paintings, sculptures, furniture, various archaeological artefacts”, stressed the head of the Ministry of Culture.

There are about 65,000 objects of lost cultural items in the Ministry’s database. A separate Department for the Restitution of Cultural Property has been set up in the ministry, which cooperates with specialised entities around the world.

“In the last six years, we have recovered more than 600 objects. We are currently conducting 125 restitution processes in 14 countries around the world. This is a wide-ranging activity. On the other side, the opponent is often human greed. Sometimes also state or political institutions oppose our activity. We have 20 restitution applications filed in the Russian Federation, but they have not been processed for many years. Despite repeated questions, we have never received an answer from that direction”, said Minister Glinski.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński