Polish treasures in Sweden?

I understand that when Sweden was a major Baltic power, they invaded Poland and also carried away many treasures from Poland, some of which are now in Swedish museums. I think one such treasure was a metal statue of an auroch. Can any members throw light on these issues. Also are there any attempts by the Polish authorities to recover these national treasures which were looted and are now stored and admired overseas?

@passivus
I think there have been some attempts to regain these goods but as usually in vain -just like in case of other exhibits stored in museums worldwide.

As for the loot, a hunting horn made of a horn of the last auroch living in Poland was looted. I don't know if there is any statue of an auroch among the exhibits.

I think they also stole some valuables from Krzyztopor - I must have read about it somewhere.

But they left some cannon balls at Jasna Góra. You can still see them.

Kind of difficult to solve this anyway when one of these conflicts was basically a conflict between a Polish king claiming the crown of Sweden vs another foreign claimant.

Most of the looted treasures belonged to Polish aristocrats, and most decidely not to the Polish state (the Polish aristocrats were insistent on this).

As the realm of the Vasa extended well beyond her own native domain, not too much of a stretch that, as with the Hanseatic League, the Swedes might indeed have plundered Polish national icons.

Swedes are dirty thieves. Good that you Poles joined force with Russians and kicked Swedes in time, when they tried to scr** you totally.

Ohhhho, Crow!
Be careful before you castigate your Swedish "brethren". After all, wasn't Rurik, the "first " Slav, actually an ancestor of the Swedes??!
:-)

No, there`s no way and no Polish government has ever tried to. The reason is simple: when Sweden attacked and occupied Polish territory, it wasn`t solely Poland but the Commonwealth - Poland united with Lithuania. Formally, today`s Poland has no right to represent the Commonwealth in court. Also, Tacitus is right about aristocratic or royal property.


A Swede tried to explain it to me. It doesn`t matter in which museum they are - Polish or Swedish. What matters is that they didn`t disappear or get destroyed during all wars, risings and occupations which happened in Poland during next 300 years after the Swedish Deluge. They have been preserved as the heritage of European culture and that matters most.

Absolutely correct, paw!

If anything, the onus lies with Sweden who may well have '"purloined" said artifacts, as I already posted earlier.
It was once again, Sweden, not Poland, which had considerable trading hegemony throughout much of Europe during the 17th, up through the middle 19th century, only to be overtaken (with a vengeance, I might add) by Germany:-)

Well, the matter of looting was settled at the time of the Vienna congress 1815. As a result of the congress, you can not reclaim loot prior to 1815.

Yep, yep, yepski! Ol' Metternich was a smart one:-)

By the by, Congress person, be ye Swede or Pole aka friend or enemy? Only kidding.
lol

Indeed. And even if it hadn't been, most of the items have now been in Sweden longer than they ever were in Poland.

And that makes it ok? So if someone steals your car after you had it for half a year and keeps it for a year it should become his?

Yes, it makes it very OK. It isn't a car, nor is it any other sort of recent purchase or acquisition. It's about items that have been in Sweden for a very very long time. If there was a legal or moral case for returning them (which there isn't), every country that had ever been in a war would have to part with items (including a few exhibits in the Muzeum Narodowy).

And it's isn't as if there's any particular fondness or sense of loss in Poland for minor items that haven't been there since centuries before living memory.

I'm shocked Jon , I never took you for a supporter of imperialism, guess it's down to your roots where your country enslaved and pillaged most of the globe, so the Greeks won't bet their marbles back any time soon?

"I'm shocked"
No you aren't!


What imperialism? It was a war between two countries, both regional powers, both monarchies, both with large territories.


Yours too!


There's a strong moral case for the various countries that have Parthenon Marbles to return them (and I'd support this). There isn't however a legal case, since they (at least the ones in London) were bought, to save them from destruction, rather than plundered.

Yeah cos I was born there , no worries , but sorry my family suffered and lost to imperialism, as Lenka suggested let me know where you park you car , I can steal it for a very long time and it will be mine.

Please don't let it be a prius.

Unfortunately, the Swedish state has decided to destroy some of their artefacts. Which bothers me, as despite the coverage being on viking artefacts, some that have been destroyed might have very well been the ones from the Commonwealth. All for neoliberalism unfortunately...

#Raeiuova
Got a link for that claim? Can be in Swedish or English