Polish authorities are developing a plan for the urgent evacuation of cultural treasures – paintings, sculptures, rare books and musical instruments – outside the country in the event of a military threat from Russia.
The Polish government is preparing a plan to export valuable works of art abroad in case of a possible Russian invasion.
This was announced by the Polish Minister of Culture, Hanna Wroblewska, in an interview with the Financial Times.
According to her, the government is negotiating with international partners on the placement of evacuated exhibits from about 160 institutions under the care of the Polish state. This includes not only paintings and sculptures, but also rare books and musical instruments.
The evacuation plan is due to be completed by the end of this year. It is part of a major security effort by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government, which also includes strengthening border security and increasing the size of Poland's armed forces to 500,000 troops.
Work on the plan is led by former Polish Army Colonel Maciej Matsiak, who held the position of deputy head of military counterintelligence.
As Vrublevska noted, the plan is partly based on the experience Poland gained after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, helping to evacuate Ukrainian cultural artefacts, some of which are still stored on Polish territory.
She also said that the Baltic countries support this approach.
“They are a little smaller, so it’s a little easier for them – they don’t have to coordinate so many people, so many museums,” the minister explained.
Earlier it was reported that Polish fighter jets were scrambled on Tuesday morning due to a threat from Russian missiles.
We previously reported that in the Polish city of Siedlce (Ukrainian: Siedlce), parents from one of the schools asked local authorities to limit the enrollment of Ukrainian children .
