The treasure of art history is hidden in Le Moyne College, a small Jesuit school in Syracuse, New York. Currying in the Noreen Realen Falele library of the University, in the midst of the bronze busts of Jesus and statues of Jesus, it is a collection of tapestries and paintings that were first shown in the Polish pavilion at the New York World Fair of 1939.
have been in Le Moyne since 1958, when a former Polish attached and emigrant professor named Stefan de Ropp donated them to university. But now they are scheduled to return to Poland, which are exhibited in a new Museum of Polish History in Warsaw.
Peter Obst, head of the Poles In America Foundation, said the effort to return the collection to Poland has been decades in manufacturing.
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Inga Barnello, the director of the Library of Le Moyne, said the University treasured the collection, known as the ROPP collection, after his donor, after his donor. And I didn't want to separate from him for many years.
googetag.cmd.push (function () Googetag.display ("dfp-ad-article_in_article");););););););););););););););););););););););););););"We are not in the business of giving our art collections," she said. "These were a gift."
Obs said that although the university was never antagonist, he remained stubbornly linked to works.
"Le Moyne, for a long time, was blowing people out," he said. "There were simply different points of view and some misunderstandings that had to reconcile." Title "> Related stories
"there are no villains in this story, except maybe Hitler and Stalin," he added.
It was not until a few years ago that the possibility of repatriation began to seem that it could become reality. In 2019, Oborah Majka, the Polish honorary consul for southeast of Pennsylvania, said a meeting with the rector of Reverend Joseph Marina. (Father Marina went on to serve as an interim president of Le Moyne for 10 weeks in 2020-21 and is currently president of the University of Scranton, a Jesuit institution).
Obst described this meeting with Father Marina as the "advanced moment" in the search for years to repatriate the collection. After the meeting, the University expressed its disposition for the first time to separate from the work of art, provided it has a safe home and was exhibited for public visualization.
googetag.cmd.push (function () Googetag.display ("dfp-ad-article_in_article_low"););); "I suppose I managed to appeal to his Jesuit sense of social justice and equity," Obst. “The Polish people will recover their inheritance. That is what motivated me. So, even if he took a little time, I think the effort was worth it.
