Meeting with Mariusz Klarecki - author of the book "Plundered Warsaw"

About the event

Looking at Warsaw rebuilt after the war's destruction, we do not see what was lost forever. Artistic interiors, collections, and archives were completely destroyed, burned, and looted. The collections and interiors of Warsaw's Jewish residents vanished entirely. Dr. Mariusz Klarecki, an art historian specializing for many years in the study of Poland's wartime losses (co-author of the report and publication "Report on the losses of Warsaw and its residents in the years 1939–1945" and the later publication "Warsaw's losses 1939–1945. Report"), will talk about the wealth of pre-war Warsaw, collectors, and the extraordinary wartime fates of works of art. He conducted a fascinating investigation, reconstructing the fates and contents of private artistic collections belonging to Warsaw residents. 📅 On September 21 at 4:00 PM, we invite you to Klub Babel for a meeting with Dr. Mariusz Klarecki - author of the book "Plundered Warsaw." The book "Plundered Warsaw" is a monumental two-volume work, equipped with over 500 photographs. It describes nearly two thousand artistic collections and archives. A pioneering work, rich in extraordinary stories about the wartime fates of private artistic collections. The book won the prestigious KLIO First Degree Award in the varsaviana category and the Feliks Jasieński Award for 2024 in the category "Collecting, science, and dissemination." It was also nominated for the PTWK award for the Most Beautiful Polish Books of 2024. The publication was issued by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Two-volume publication available for download here: https://www.gov.pl/zrabowana-warszawa-straty-w Mariusz Klarecki, PhD in humanities, graduated in art history from the Faculty of History at the University of Łódź. He defended his doctoral thesis "Losses in private artistic collections and archives of Warsaw residents in the years 1939–1945" at the University of Warsaw. He worked at the Desa-Unicum auction house and the Polish Conservation Workshops in Warsaw. Since 2017, he has worked at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, preparing exhibitions and museum events and expanding the museum's collections. Since 2020, he has been the Curator of the Palace under the Tin Roof at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Author of exhibitions at the Royal Castle in Warsaw: "With Saber and Cross," "A New Look at the Palace Under the Tin Roof," "Kraków Nativity Scenes," "Abakanowicz. Confrontations," "Nothing I Regret as Much as Porcelain," "Unknown Matejko." Curator of the Palace Under the Tin Roof, author of exhibitions: "Napoleon Bonaparte's Signatures," "Those Hellish Lancers," "Creme de la Creme at the Palace Under the Tin Roof. Acquisitions from 2021–2024." For over twenty years, he has specialized in research on the works of 19th and 20th-century Polish painters, as well as the fates of Warsaw's private artistic collections. He is the author of many expert opinions in this field for museums and Polish and foreign galleries and auction houses. Since 2010, he has collaborated with the Department of Wartime Losses of the Cultural Heritage Department at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. In August 2024, he published the monumental work "Plundered Warsaw. Losses in private collections and artistic archives of Warsaw residents in the years 1939–1945," vol. 1–2. The book received the KLIO First Degree Award in the varsaviana category. Free admission!