Deputy Prime Minister, head of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Piotr Gliński has announced that the book “Projet de Paix Perepetuelle”, which French President Emmanuel Macron gave to Pope Francis, is not a Polish war loss. The work bearing the stamp „Academic Reading Room in Lvov” comes from a Paris antiquarian bookshop.

The book is not a Polish loss

A book by I. Kant offered by President Emmanuel Macron to Pope Francis is not a Polish war loss. Contrary to the claims of some media reports, culture_gov_pl assumed that the work is not a Polish loss

— Professor Piotr Gliński, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and National Heritage, wrote on Twitter.

We identified the book’s provenance, among others, in cooperation with the Ossoliński ZN and the French authorities. All the indications are that the book was already in France at the turn of the 20th century

— informs Gliński.

But another work of art – “The Dutch Riverbank” by J. van Goyen, which was looted from the Wrocław collection during World War II - is still in France - at the Musee Louvre - the Deputy Prime Minister stressed, adding that the Louvre museum „to this day has not responded to the restitution request of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage”.

Macron’s gift to Pope Francis

A book carrying a Polish stamp, given to Pope Francis by French President Emmanuel Macron, does not come from German looting, AFP reported on Tuesday, referring to an interview with Paris bookseller Patrick Hatchuel, who had sold Immanuel Kant’s work to the Élysée Palace for less than €2,500.

President Macron presented the work ”Projet de Paix Perepetuelle” by Kant to Pope Francis on Monday during his Vatican audience. The work bears a Polish stamp on the first page with the inscription: „Academic Reading Room in Lviv”.

Hatchuel confirmed to AFP that he had sold Kant’s book to the French president’s chancellery for less than the catalogue price of €2,500.

The history of this volume shows that it could not have come from the Nazi looting. I have no doubt about this and, being of the Jewish faith, I am very sensitive about it - assured Hatchuel, adding that the book was owned by a library in Lviv between 1850 and 1870 and was then probably sold. Afterwards, around 1900, it was brought to Paris by the well-known bookseller Lucien Bodin, who specialised in esotericism.

The last owner of Kant’s work was a private collector who bought it half a century ago. And it was sold to Hatchuel by this collector’s son. Everything is verifiable

— emphasised Hatchuel.

The Academic Reading Room was not part of Lviv University, but it was an important organisation for students and researchers of Polish nationality, founded in 1867 and active until 1939. - reports AFP.

Tłum. K.J.