Historical paintings commissioned for the Polish Pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair will come back to Poland after 83 years.
On Wednesday, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Piotr Glinski signed an agreement in Syracuse, New York, on the return to Poland of a series of paintings depicting the history of Poland by artists from the Brotherhood of St. Luke.
Glinski said that the contract signed at Le Moyne College, a university where works of art have been stored for decades, was the result of many years of efforts by Poland’s culture ministry.
“This is a special event for Polish heritage. For many years, various communities and institutions have made efforts so that Le Moyne College paintings and tapestries would not be forgotten,” he said during the signing ceremony.
The paintings depicting seven key scenes from Polish history were among the main exhibits of the Polish pavilion. After the outbreak of World War II, they remained in the US, and since 1958 they have been kept at the Jesuit college in Syracuse.