Stolen artworks found in Vienna return to Poland
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
12.01.2016 08:46
Two bas-reliefs from around 1520 stolen in the early 1990s were returned to Poland after they were found in the Austrian capital.
The works of art were returned by the Foreign Ministry. Photo: MICHAŁ JASIULEWICZ/MSZ
“I am happy to see that works of art that disappeared during different times in our history are now returning to Poland,” Witold Waszczykowski, Polish Foreign Minister, said.
Originally a triptych, the bas-relief was kept at nearby Church of St. Anna for the turbulent second-half of the 20th century, despite this, in 1994, all such works were stolen from the church.
The two bas-reliefs which were recently returned to Poland were discovered at an antique market in Vienna in 2015.
A bas-relief is a type of sculpture that is not to scale, however, it retains the natural contours of the figures allowing the work be viewed from different angles without distortion of the figures. (ua/rg)