Category: The Heritage Crime Trail

On our three days in Warsaw, we visited the Museum of Warsaw and the Heritage Interpretation Centre. We learned that the city of Warsaw was destroyed in 1944,  85% of the city was bombed by the Germans in retaliation of the 1944 Warsaw uprising.

Efforts from several architects and the state after the war created a plan of reconstruction. From 1945-51 the old town place was reconstructed, however not exactly as it was before, creating a more spacious city centre. Our lovely guide Marta took us around and showed us the history of the reconstruction and the UNESCO recognition.

Later we went to the Warsaw Museum at the old town place where we learned more about Warsaw’s history and population. We walked around through the old town and enjoyed the nice weather.

The next day we went to see the National Museum of Warsaw were our lovely guide Mr. Glowacki, who works at the curatorial department told us about the history of the museum at the time of the war. We found that the museum was almost completely looted by the Nazis, with paintings such as a Young Man by Rafael never returning. We also saw efforts from the Ministry of Culture of Poland to track paintings lost during that time which we were able to see at the museum.

Lastly, a nice story about a important symbolic painting for the Polish people. A massive war painting by recognised artist Jan Matejko. The great scale art work was dismounted by the staff and hidden, first in Warsaw and later buried in Lublin. The staff wanted to avoid the Nazis burning the painting as the topic of the work was the defeat of the German army to the Polish army in the 1500.

We found Warsaw lovely, filled with life and great food! We will be back once more! This is the end of our journey so thank you readers and to the next adventure!

Vienna is full of surprises! On our short visit we had the opportunity to visit Belvedere Museum. Here was the home of the famous portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. The Bloch-Bauer family were victims during WWII as they were Jewish. Their art was stolen including this painting.

However, the remaining family of Adele tried to get the painting back which would end up in the collections of this museum after the war. In 2006 after several legal battles, the portrait and another 4 Klimt paintings were repatriated to their owners or their families. Now the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer rests in a gallery in New York. We had the chance to se the collection and other Klimt master pieces such as The Kiss.

On our second day we went to the Welt Museum or Museum of the World, our main interest was the Penacho de Moctezuma, also brought to Austria by explorers. The exhibition also included a passage to the Pacific with Maori Taonga. Overall the exhibition of object from around the world felt quite heavy and difficult to appreciate as the whole approach was of a colonial look. Nonetheless, there was a room explaining the role of the museum and its colonial collections which was a step forward. In this room there are thoughtful questions and exploration of the role of the museum in the future, we hope to see more like this   . Contemporary exhibitions at the museum of Nepalese art and syncretism were superb and we highly recommend it.

Vienna is a gem and a must in world heritage cities!

Arriving to Bruges, we decided to go head on to our most interest spot. The church of Our Lady of Bruges which holds a beautiful Michelangelo sculpture of the Virgin Mary.

The virgin is a symbol of the city and its people. During WWII it was stolen by Nazi solders and smuggled out of Belgium in a Red Cross truck. The sculpture illuminates and stands today at her home because of a group of heritage and art historian professionals which located most of the stolen art by the Nazis. The famous movie the monuments men was based on this story and the inspiration for our entire trip.

The lady of Bruges was returned home after being discover in a Salt mine in Germany with many other works of art. At the moment the altar where the virgin sits is being restored to honour and maintain the virgin’s home.

We also had the opportunity to visit the newly finished Bruges museum, the Flemish masters museum, Belfry world heritage site and the whole town. Bruges is a charming medieval city which had a group of powerful people interested in the revival of the medieval charm in the city.  The Violet le Duc XIX century inspired restoration  returned the medieval charm which is now a world heritage city.

We found ourselves looking out to the city view and reading about the World Heritage Site commemoration.  The fortifications of Luxembourg are regarded as one is the most impressive in Europe. They became a World Heritage Site in 1994.

In the city museum, we had the opportunity to understand the evolution of the fortifications and development in the city. Luxembourg with its topography was destined to be one of the greatest walled cities in Europe. Popular among tourist, the beautiful views will take your breath away.

Later in the day we visited the Notre-Dame cathedral where the royal crypt hidden underneath the church, flanked by two lions in bronze with the Luxembourg coat of arms. In there, it rests the Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg as well as other members of the Ducal family.

Tomorrow we will go to the national museum of history and art  of Luxembourg and we will say goodbye to our stay here.