Goluchów (Poland) Mar 17 (EFE).- The museum of the Gołuchów castle (central Poland) recovered this Friday two paintings by a Flemish artist from the 15th century that were in the Pontevedra Museum, where they arrived after being looted during the Nazi invasion.
The two paintings, whose traces were lost during World War II, were located in 2019 by Polish state officials carrying out a campaign to locate and return the thousands of works of art and historical objects stolen from Poland during the conflict.
The “Mater Dolorosa” and the “Ecce homo” by the Belgian master Eryk Bouts form a diptych that had been in the Goluchów castle since 1883 and from there they were transferred to Warsaw, where they were stolen by the Nazis, from which time their trace was lost until they reappeared in the Museum of Pontevedra.
The Polish Minister of Culture, Piotr Glinski, recalled that Poland “lost more than 500,000 works and artistic objects” in the looting unleashed during the War, that up to 70% of the books in Polish libraries were “stolen or destroyed” and that In total, cultural assets worth some 10,000 million euros were lost.
Regarding the restitution process, the Polish minister highlighted the professionalism shown at all times by the Spanish authorities and expressed his wish that future restitution processes with other countries involved “be carried out in the same way, which until now has not this is still the case,” he said.
For his part, the Spanish ambassador to Poland, Ramiro Fernández Bachiller, after congratulating himself that the two paintings are already “at home”, highlighted the defense “of the territorial integrity” of all countries, which includes their cultural heritage.
The diplomat explained that through the “events” of the works in Europe it is possible to reconstruct part of the common history of European countries and pointed out the symbolic value that the return of the paintings has in the European context and especially good relations between Spain and Poland.
The person in charge of Heritage and Cultural Assets, Isaac Sastre de Diego, emphasized that “the common future is built by healing the wounds of the past”, such as the one opened “80 years ago in the heart of Europe” and said that, after this restitution, the castle where the works will remain becomes a “symbol of European friendship”.
The vice president of the Provincial Council of Pontevedra, César Mosqueira, was proud of the good will that has guided the entire operation and assured that the Museum of Pontevedra “would not feel calm” knowing that they had in their possession “works product of a plunder”.
“We are proud of what we have done and we would do it again”, stressed Mosqueira, who insisted that given the process of historical memory in which Spain is immersed, it was “easy” to decide to “collaborate in the process of restitution of historical heritage from another country”.
For his part, the director of the Museum of Pontevedra, José Manuel Rey, explained how the request of the Polish State surprised the authorities of the institution who, as soon as they were aware of the true origin of the paintings, had no doubt that they had to “ proceed with its return as quickly as possible.
The director of the Museum of Pontevedra was confident that “the international impact” achieved by this case will serve to “open multiple windows” to similar collaborations between other European countries.
According to the director of the Poznan Museum Tomasz Lecki, the entity that manages the collection exhibited in the Goluchów castle, the incidents suffered by the restored paintings symbolize the tragic circumstances that affected multiple works of art due to the Nazi invasion.
Since the research process was carried out through the internet and there are some replicas of these works, the Polish technicians had to resort to relating clues provided by experts, original sources and historical documents that confirmed that they were indeed the paintings. looted.
Data from the Polish Ministry of Culture indicates that there are some 155 requests for restitution, pending responses from 15 countries.