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Kacper Pempel / Reuters
Marble columns and other stonework poke up through the Vistula River in Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday.
WARSAW -- A huge cargo of elaborate marble stonework that sank to the bottom of Poland's Vistula River four centuries ago has re-appeared after a drought and record-low water levels revealed the masonry lying in the mud on the river bed.
Archaeologists believe the stonework was part of a trove that 17th-century Swedish invaders looted from Poland's rulers and loaded onto barges to transport home, only for the booty to go to the bottom when the vessels sank.
Researchers knew about the artifacts, on the river bed where the Vistula passes through the Polish capital, but before the drought retrieving them was a painstaking task because they were under several feet of water.
Now though, the masonry -- large blocks of carved marble used in the columns, fountains, and staircases of Polish palaces -- is lying exposed apart from a coating of foul-smelling yellow mud.
"The drought helped us a lot because what had been lying underneath is now at the surface," said Hubert Kowalski, deputy director of the University of Warsaw Museum, which is leading the effort to retrieve the marble stonework.
Speaking at a police building where some of the stonework is being temporarily stored, he said historians' knowledge about what happened four centuries ago had previously been sketchy.
Low water levels in Poland's Vistula River are revealing marble sculptures believed to be stolen from the Warsaw Castle during the 17th century. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
"Now we have evidence, the best material evidence of the Swedish invasion so far."
Low rainfall over the past few months has brought the Vistula, Poland's longest river, to its lowest level since regular records began 200 years ago.
Navigation along the river has already been affected and officials say if water levels do not recover soon, power stations in Warsaw that use river water for cooling may be forced to close down.
Czarek Sokolowski / AP
Historians salvage some of the ancient stonework in Warsaw, Poland, on Thursday.
Jewish artifacts from WWII also found
The receding water has also revealed relics from Warsaw's bloody history during World War II. During that period the city was occupied by Nazi Germany, the Jewish population was wiped out, the city rose up against the occupation, and then the Soviet Red Army arrived and imposed its own rule.
Unexploded World War II ordnance was found on the river bed in one part of the city last weekend. Kowalski said on the stretch of river bed he had been studying, a few pieces of Jewish matzevah, or gravestones, had been discovered.
He said they would be handed over to the city's Jewish Historical Institute. Finds of Jewish artifacts are quite common in Warsaw, the legacy of successive Nazi and Soviet schemes to demolish traces of the city's Jewish community.
Historians believed that the Swedes who invaded Poland in the 17th century planned to move the looted cargo up the Vistula to Gdansk, where the river joins the Baltic Sea, and from there transport it home. There is still no firm explanation of why the boats sank on the way.
Kowalski said he and his team had so far located up to 10 tons of stonework, but this was only the beginning. "The boats had a capacity of 50-60 tons (each), so we think that we should find much more," he said.
Once it has been removed from the river bed and cataloged, the plan is to take the masonry to Warsaw's Royal Castle, one of the sites from which, historians believe, it was looted by the Swedish invaders.
For now though, the low water levels that revealed the artifacts are hampering efforts to retrieve them. Regular lifting equipment would sink into the mud, but the river is too low for the researchers to bring in floating cranes.
"We need to wait until it gets higher," Kowalski said.
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Inter
I meant interesting,I hate my phone. lol
They’re still countless pieces of art stolen from Poland in Swedish museums.
Stolen Pagan temple property lies beneath Polish monasteries and churches, stolen Pagan artifacts are in Vatican museums, and stolen Catholic monasteries were turned into private homes in England. Seems like everyone at some point in history stole something from someone. Shall everyone give everything back to everybody, or is centuries old "new ownership" not sometimes part of the fabric of history as well?
Interesting question. Sounds like a juicy dissertation!
After 100s of years of Adverse possession, the statute of limitation has run its course. Nobody is giving anything back -- short of another invasion.
A case of thieves stealling more than they can carry?
Why would they steal that stuff anyhow? I'm guessing those were pricey back then..
Now, it is the perfect time for Polish government to officially ask Sweden to return back all of Polish artifacts.
The artwork on the marble is AMAZING!! Go pick up a slab of marble, a chisel and a hammer- you'll see what I'm talking about. The craftsmanship is simply astounding!
awesome
They need to do a better job not allowing people to invade their country.
If that was humor, I appreciate it. If that was some kind of criticism of their attempt to remain a soverign country, I think its a little out of bounds. I can only imagine how easily Hitler rolled over Eastern Europe, before he took on the Big Dogs - us.
Actually Russia had more to do with stopping Hitler than anything the US or the UK did, the sheer scope of the Russian battlefront dwarfed our contribution. TMYK!
Sorry but that's historically inaccurate, we had nothing to do with the Russian front. We helped end the war sooner, certainly, but most of Germany's forces were destroyed by Europe/Russia before we ever got there.
Look I'm not gonna argue history with you. We helped, Europe helped, Russia helped (more than anyone else); the important thing is: I like bacon.
The last part made me laugh out loud but glad to see not everyone likes to distort history.
I hope it all ends up in the right hands
The Swedes are quite poor sea faring souls. You should take a look at Vasa, which was a war ship built 400 years ago or so to invade Poland. I think it had something to do with who would be King of Sweden when the Swedish king died with no heirs except one nephew in Sweden and one in Poland who both felt they should be the new king. Anyway, the Vasa made it almost 2 km on it's maiden voyage and sank, right there in the harbor of Stockholm. Pretty funny, really. The museum in Stockholm is amazing because they were able to bring up the ship and rebuild it. It's incredible to see.
Viking Age Swedes were, according to their trading partners in the Byzantium, and raid victims in Ireland and elsewhere, quite at home on the sea. The Vasa did sink on its maiden voyage, in the harbor, but so did Henry VIII's "Mary Rose". Were the English therefor poor sea faring souls as well?
The war in 1650s was not really about the inheritance to the Swedish throne; the Polish king John II Casimir(1609-72, r.1648-68) had a claim to the Swedish throne, being the last legitimate male scion of the Wasa family, but the Polish branch of Wasa dynasty - which had claimed the Polish-Lithuanian throne in 1587 thanks to Sigismund III(1566-1632, r. Poland 1587-1632 & Sweden 1592-99) being a nephew of Sigismund II(1520-72, r.1548-72), the last Jagiello ruler of Polish-Lithuania - was dying out, and Polish-Lithuanian commenwealth was on a downward spiral. John II Casimir's claim was of little importance when it came to realpolitik.
It was more a case of the new Swedish king, Charles X Gustav(1622-60, r.1654-60) - a second cousin of John II Casimir and the German born grandson of Charles IX of Sweden(1550-1611, r.(1599)1604-1611) using the weakness of the neighbouring countries to launch a series of succesful wars of aggression. In the end, his death ended Swedish dreams of new territory from Poland-Lithuania, but Denmark-Norway fared worse.
I find it amazing they were loading 10 tons of stonework onto the ship without a crane...some of those larger pieces are massively heavy. Try picking up a rock the size of your head.
In looking at the debris field, it seems really spread out. Who postulates that it came from a sunken ship? Ever drop a bucket of rocks? They don't float 200m away.
Chris150, more Polish soldiers died in one month when Germany invaded Poland than the entire Vietnam War trying to protect their Homeland. You should be ashamed of your ignorance. I guess the U.S. should do a better job protecting our borders form illegal immigration? Or maybe you should read a history book?
Actually yes, we do need to do a better job of protecting our borders. But no one's stealing the hope diamond or Washington's portrait any time soon.
LA LA LA I can't hear you there's no such thing as climate change LA LA LA LA
Kook!
You and me both, Valet. Think about this quote:
"Low rainfall over the past few months has brought the Vistula, Poland's longest river, to its lowest level since regular records began 200 years ago.
Navigation along the river has already been affected and officials say if water levels do not recover soon, power stations in Warsaw that use river water for cooling may be forced to close down."
How interesting that the very same devices that are part of the problem are the ones that get shut down as a result of their environmental impact? Ironic, you might say. I wonder if this will serve as a paradigm for the future of fossil fuels as a whole? I'm guessing it is very accurate.
OMG! There's a drought! It must be global warming! AHHHHH!!! Hey wingnut, ever hear of something called the "Ice Age"? Global warming is nothing but flurries compared to our past. If you are so hooked on global warming, then why don't you figure out a way to speed up the process and kill off half of the useless population.
I didn't say global warming, I said climate change. Yes, there have been ice ages and droughts before, but using scientific methods we can trace the genesis of change to certain factors, be they environmental (too much carbon dioxide triggered by an abundance of animals that excrete it causing an ice age) or man-made (never-before-seen levels of greenhouse gases building up in the atmosphere causing a global heating epidemic).
But let's say for a second you are right, and it's 100% natural. It will still cause death and suffering on a monumental scale if we don't do something about it, and since it is well within the physical capabilities of the human race to modify the environment (technologically speaking) then why WOULDN'T we do something about it? But I guess that would be harder than just resorting to name-calling when someone says something you don't like. Pwned.
Valet is right on a monumental scale but so few people look at the science behind climate change to realize all that is happening. BobLee mentioned the Ice Age...as the greenhouse gases build up, our ice caps will continue to melt---I don't know if you remember science class or understand that dark colors absorb heat while lighter colors reflect heat---but the ice caps allow the sun's energy to be reflected away from a small portion of our seas, where as water absorb the energy. That affect is exponential so there is a certain tipping point, not to mention salt water/fresh water ratios affecting global currents and temp differences affecting the same currents, where climate will change on a grand scale(I'm not even looking at how the few things I just mentioned would affect the food chain or so many other factors that would come into play)---and then the processes will repeat themselves over millions of years, with or without us. The key is we are influencing our environment to change in ways that we have the technology to avoid by taking better care of this planet butt we do not---and the devastation to us in the end?? Think about it. If the world's currents shifted and downtown D.C. was suddenly Antarctica(we will enter into an ice age again someday, but overnight as is thought could happen if we do not change), how would anyone there survive long-term as they do now? On a mass scale. how would millions of people get food in a city like New York? You say the global warming is but flurries...I say global warming should be your worst fear for all of mankind, given how easily we already kill and maim each other when resources are readily available. At best, we'll be a third world civilization...women will be raped at every turn, there will be no law, people will die of starvation because you can't pick up food at the supermarket anymore---you actually have to know how to grow and gather your own---but hey, if you don't want to look at facts and you want to poo-poo proven scientific fact, be my guest. The very name global warming is deceiving. People assume the name means we should be alarmed by excessive heat, lack of water due to droughts, etc...and if we are still seeing snow, ice, and rain that all is well. No. Global warming is climate change. All various weather changes are affected...and again, the key point missed is this.
The Earth is a contained ecosystem in and of itself. The plants provide us with oxygen, we give them carbon dioxide. Without either, or without sunlight/water and so many other factors, our planet is no longer able to sustain life as we know it. Sure, life will always exist---even if 99.9 of all things living right now were to die, the process of evolution could start all over with a single celled organism somewhere...but this planet is not infinite. The exact same processes I am describing would happen if you took an empty fish tank and filled it with life, plants, etc...and self contained it. If you have a perfect balance, everything will live and future generations will come. If even one mistake is made, everything dies. My point? BobLee suggested the Earth is hardy and we will be just fine. He is right...the Earth is hardy and will exist long after we are gone...it is we who are not hardy and when you factor in how many of us there are, that only amplifies the issue of getting enough food, finding shelter, water, and so on. Pwned x 2.
Good story. The artifacts will go back where they belong. Poland is now doing quite well.
Some countries artifacts are missing because looting or where wealth people paid small wages for a petite thief to steals country valuables (fine arts, sculptures, precious coin metals, etc) for personal gain or lock in special vault 5000 feet below). Arts are become invaluable or expensive commodities after centuries old 10-50 years plus. 1. No one claim them or 2. disappear from view for period of time.
Quite the coincidence this story popped up, as I've been recently enjoying Sabaton's power metal album "Carolus Rex," which has in turn prompted me to read up on my Swedish history. Almost everybody has heard about the Vikings, but not nearly as many know that Sweden was the dominant north-eastern European power during the 1600s, controlling an empire encircling the Baltic Sea. Sweden was also the first major power to get its ass kicked trying to invade Russia, beating Napoleon to the punch by over 100 years. That was pretty much the end of the Swedish Empire.
The Swedes have definitely calmed down since those days, as has the rest of Europe. It's probably for the best.
Very interesting story for several reasons. I like seeing that most of the loot still in the river may be recovered by the rightful owners. It will be a great opportunity to go back 400 years for some lucky archeologists. Secondly, I wonder how much they got away with? I imagine if you follow up, they will have an estimate on the weight of the recovered stone.
I'd love to see it someday.
Sling them up now, attach orange buoys. Later when the water rises float the cranes and pull them up.
10,000 slings and buoys? We can record the GPS coordinates of each piece now without creating an ecological eyesore.
I just thought of something else. Unless the thieves carved up the loot, it could possibly be matched to the recovered stuff. I'm SURE they could get it back without any trouble. It is stolen property, even if the statute of limitations has run out.
After 400 years the Swedes are the rightful owners. The things they got away with are what are termed "the spoils of war." If you win they are yours, that's why the Nazi's didn't get to keep the art they took, and why we get to keep the land we took from the natives and call it "America."
The silver lining! While drought is a sad thing; look what they were able to recover. Very cool!!!
Fantastic! :-)
So they wouldn't get it before because it was under water. Now that the water's gone they have to wait for the water to come back to get it out? They could have just gotten it before! It sounds like Poland's government operates with the same stupidity as ours...
No more art for the fish.
I am already looking forward to the National Geographic that will have an article on this...maybe a Discovery show, too! Way cool reading!
hey... leave my fishbowl alone
Please don't think about what you "can't do" because of the water level.
Think about what you can do - cranes, military vehicles, getting all straps in place and then lifting the artifacts out via a helicopter or other form or lift.
Great find!
Critical times hard to deal with, will be here.
Now, is the perfect time for Polish government to ask Sweden to return back all the stolen artifacts.
Now, it is the perfect time for Polish government to officially ask Sweden to return back all of Polish artifacts.
Sweden has to hang on to that stuf for safe keeping. They dont want someone to steal it.
strap air bags to it know when the water comes back fill the air bags and float it to its destination no cranes needed just barges to pull it to shore wher the crane can put it on a train and take it to where it will remain