From 5 October to 6 November 2015, the square in the town of Zell am See is hosting the outdoor exhibition POLISH CULTURAL TREASURES AT FISCHHORN CASTLE – AN UNFINISHED STORY, organised jointly by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Polish Embassy in Vienna, along with Salzburg state authorities. The exhibition’s opening was accompanied by a screening of the latest film in the LOST MUSEUM film series, which tells the story of Polish treasure rescuer Bohdan Urbanowicz. The exhibition traces the fate of Polish artefacts that had been taken from Warsaw and hidden in the local castle, covering works of art that have recently been recovered as well as still-missing items being sought by the government of Poland.

After the defeat of the Warsaw Uprising in early October 1944, German occupying authorities seized the most valuable possessions of the National Museum, the Royal Castle, the Krasiński Library, the National Library and the Blue Palace, despatching the treasures to Austria and storing them in Fischhorn Castle. Lieutenant Bohdan Urbanowicz, an art historian and a prisoner in the POW camp at Murnau am Staffelsee, remained in Austria after the camp was liberated in April 1945 by American forces (Gen. Patton’s Seventh Army) and served as the Spokesman of Polish people – State of Salzburg, representing displaced Polish citizens. In July 1945, Urbanowicz learned that a stockpile of Polish royal treasures, paintings, furniture and books had been hidden in the mountains at Fischhorn Castle.

Left unattended, the hoard of Polish cultural property became the target of plunder by locals and even American troops. Then, with Urbanowicz being granted proxy authority by the Polish Ministry of Culture and Art, the American Military Government began efforts to secure the Polish works of art, calling on Urbanowicz in September 1945 to inventory the artefacts that had been recovered.

The efforts of Bohdan Urbanowicz, with the backing of the leadership of the “Rainbow” Division, led to the evacuation from Fischhorn Castle in the town of Zell am See near Salzburg a wealth of cultural property comprising 408 paintings, including works by Bacciarelli, Matejko and Gierymski, 68 tapestries, 43 sculptures, 154 pieces of antique furniture from the Royal Castle in Warsaw and the Łazienki Palace, numerous noble sashes, militaria and collections of prints from the University of Warsaw and the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. The shipment from Salzburg, consisting of 12 railway cars, reached Warsaw on 23 April 1946.