Representatives of the heirs of Prince Andrzej Lubomirski are demanding through the court a ban on the return to Ukraine of paintings that were evacuated to Poland at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.
Rzeczpospolita writes about this.
In 2022, Ukraine transferred a series of valuable paintings to Poland, including from museums in Lviv. Some of them are currently on display at a temporary exhibition at the Museum of Central Pomerania in Slupsk.
Among the works presented at the exhibition are two portraits from the Lubomirski collection: "Portrait of Roksolana" by an unknown artist (oil painting, 16th century) and "Portrait of a Young Man" by Alois Reyhan, 1850. Their value was estimated at 150 000 zlotys (over 1.7 million hryvnias).
However, a few days ago, the heirs of Prince Lubomirski filed an appeal with the district court in Slupsk, demanding that the museum be prohibited from transferring or exporting the paintings until the court decides who they belong to.
The plaintiffs also claim that the paintings belonged to the Przeworsk Ordination, a large hereditary property of Lubomirskiʼs family. The plaintiffsʼ lawyer added that among the options they are considering is to leave the paintings in the deposit of a Polish cultural institution, for example, in the Museum of the Princes Lubomirskis, which is being created at the Ossolinski National Institution in Wrocław.
The Lviv Historical Museum wrote on its Facebook page that they received a notice of a lawsuit from the Polish museum on July 22. They assured that the works in question belong to the state part of the museum fund of Ukraine. Currently, the exhibition in Slupsk continues to operate according to schedule — until October 18. The Lviv Historical Museum reported this case to the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.
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