Polish family fleeing Nazis abandoned ancient artifacts. Now they’ve been found

Several figurines were unearthed last year in a remote Polish village, prompting experts to track down their provenance.

They discovered that the artifacts had far flung origins, were thousands of years old and had been hastily abandoned in Poland during World War II, according to a May 8 news release from Science in Poland, a subset of the national news agency.

In total, three figurines, all depicting ancient deities, were unearthed in Kluczkowice, located about 115 miles southeast of Warsaw, in May 2022.

Two of them depicted Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead, and dated to the first millennium B.C., officials said. The third portrayed Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, and dated to the first century A.D.

A fourth figurine, also of Osiris, was found in April, and it measured about 3 inches.

Researchers determined that the findings once belonged to the Kleniewskis, a wealthy Polish family who lived in the Palace of Kluczkowice.

It’s likely that they obtained the Osiris figurines during a monthslong trip to Egypt in 1904.

It’s not clear when they purchased the Bacchus statuette, but it seems to be a fragment of a Roman tripod. An identical, yet complete artifact was found near Mount Vesuvius in the 18th century, officials said.

Records revealed that the Kleniewski family intended to use some of its private collection to create an antiquities display in Kluczkowice, officials said.

However, its plans appeared to have changed following the outbreak of World War II.

The family fled town in 1942, leaving everything but its personal belongings behind, officials said. Its property, including the ancient Egyptian and Roman figurines, was seized by the Nazis.

The recovery of some of the family’s collection eight decades after its confiscation marks an achievement for cultural heritage and science, officials said.

Approximately 20 percent of European art was plundered by the Nazis, according to the National Archives. Though much has been recovered, thousands of pieces still remain missing.

Google Translate was used to translate a news release from Science in Poland.

This story was originally published May 10, 2023 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Polish family fleeing Nazis abandoned ancient artifacts. Now they’ve been found."