On Monday, March 3, 2014 drawings and lithographs of the most outstanding 19th century Polish artists lost in World War II returned to the National Museum in Warsaw. 42 works have been recovered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the support of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation. The ceremonial handover was conducted by representatives of both institutions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters.
Citi Handlowy was represented by Sławomir S. Sikora, Citi Handlowy CEO/CCO who gave a speech on the importance of cooperation of public and private institutions in the field of national heritage, one of main focuses of the activities of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, Bank's CSR arm. He referred to the long tradition and history of Citi and Citi Handlowy and their commitment to local values. He also stressed that national heritage is one of the fundamental values that shape national identity.
Bogusław Winid, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister also gave a speech in which he thanked Citi Handlowy CEO/CCO for supporting the Ministry and "engaging in a complex operation".
The event was attended by Małgorzata Omilanowska (Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Deputy Minister), Dariusz Jadowski (Head of Education Department, National Bank of Poland) and representative of Polish Commission for Unesco (prof. Slawomir Ratajski, Secretary General).
The collection that was handed over to the National Museum in Warsaw consists of priceless drawings and litographs of the most famous Polish 19th century artists such as: Juliusz Kossak, Aleksander Orłowski, Leon Wyczółkowski. All of these works, along with other exhibits from the museum's collections, were taken out of the country in 1944.
 Sławomir S. Sikora, Agnieszka Morawińska, Bogusław Winid |
 Sławomir S. Sikora, Agnieszka Morawińska, Bogusław Winid |
 Sławomir S. Sikora, Małgorzata Omilanowska, Agnieszka Morawińska |
Citi Handlowy, through The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, has once again taken part in this type of initiative. Under the "Recovery of Polish Art" program, it was able to bring back to the country two missing canvasses - by Wojciech Gerson and by Anna Bilińska - Bohdanowiczowa in cooperation with Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
