The stolen during World War II painting of Oswald Achenbach Via Cassia near Rome from 1878 returned to the National Museum in Wroclaw. The celebration of handing over of the found work, which was attended by Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland Małgorzata Omilanowska, was held on August 7 this year (Thursday) at. 12.00 p.m. at the seat of the Museum.

The recovered panting is from a pre-war collection of the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wroclaw. It found its way to the museum collection in 1907, in accordance with the last will of Conrad Fisher. This Wroclaw art collector donated to the Museum a collection of approximately 100 paintings and several sculptures. It was one of the most valuable gifts the Wroclaw facility received, which consisted mainly of paintings from the second fifty years of the nineteenth century, collected by the collector with the intention of supplementing the museum collection. Handing over such a rich collection to the museum was also described by the local newspaper.

After the outbreak of World War II preparations for securing the collection was undertaken. Since 1942 transportation of works of art to the previously designated depots in Silesia has begun. The action of securing was led by the Lower Silesia conservator prof. Günther Grundmann. The preserved archives clearly show that the canvas of O. Achenbach has been exported to the repository of works of art in Kamieniec Ząbkowicki (Kamenz). On February 4, 1946, pastor Schultheiss, guardian of the repository, discovered the repository had been burgled, during which more than 100 paintings disappeared. The Via Cassia near Rome painting was probably among them. In fact, it was not found by the Polish evacuation crew, which reached the repository on February 10, 1946. From that moment it was considered to be a loss of the war and was the subject of search of the Polish side.

The fate of the antique remained unknown until May 2014, when the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage found the painting at an auction in the Van Ham auction house in Cologne. The success is even greater, because it is the fruit of application by the Ministry of Culture of new tools to actively seek war losses. Using specialized websites the Ministry of Culture constantly monitors the art market.

Sequentially, steps to identify the painting were undertaken. On 14 May 2014 at the premises of the Van Ham auction house an expert from the National Museum in Wroclaw conducted an examination of the painting. On its basis, the opinion has been prepared, indisputably confirming that we were dealing with a work from the pre-war Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wroclaw. The expert opinion was based on the conservation study of the face of the painting and the analysis of proprietary markings placed on the reverse.

The work’s rapid return to the Wroclaw collection was possible due to the civic attitude of the holder of the painting. After getting acquainted with the documentation prepared by the Division of Wartime Losses of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, which concluded that it came from war looting, he decided to return the canvas. This person wishes to remain anonymous. Efficient conduct of the regenerative proceedings is also a result of an open attitude and professionalism of the Van Ham auction house in Cologne.

The entire procedure of recovering the painting was conducted by the Division of Wartime Losses of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland. On behalf of the Ministry of Culture of Poland this cell is engaged in gathering information about cultural property lost as a result of World War II, running all-Poland database of wartime losses, the search for cultural property lost as a result of World War II and its restitution.

The only all-Poland registry of movable cultural property lost as a result of World War II from the territory of Poland after 1945 can be found at www.dzielautracone.gov.pl It is a site dedicated to wartime losses launched by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland. The main part of the site is steadily growing catalogue of recovered works.