The recovered hunting rifle of Count Wincenty Krasiński has been transferred to the collection of the Polish History Museum. The valuable item given to Krasiński by Napoleon Bonaparte has returned to Poland thanks to restitution activities conducted by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (MKiDN).

“Today, another Polish wartime loss returns to its homeland! The very beautiful, unique hunting rifle of Count Wincenty Krasiński donated by Napoleon, which was found in Cleveland, is back in Poland thanks to very good cooperation with the United States”, said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Piotr Gliński during the ceremony of presentation and handover of the rifle to the collection of the Polish History Museum.

Before the war, the rifle was part of the armoury at the Krasiński Ordinance Museum in Warsaw, a place very characteristic of Polish war losses. The museum was the largest pre-war armoury and one of the largest pre-war libraries. The institution’s collections were looted or destroyed, and the library was burnt down by the Germans.

The ceremony for the transfer of the rifle to the museum was attended by US Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski and officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington.

Mark Brzezinski noted that the return of Count Krasiński’s rifle to Poland is a historic event and the result of the work of many people – specialists from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Polish History Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio and the Art Crime Team operating within the FBI in Washington.

“The return of this unique artefact is an example of the strength of the partnership between our two countries – the United States and Poland – and of the close cooperation between the Ministry of Culture and the FBI, as well as the museums, both in Cleveland and in Warsaw”, said Brzezinski.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński