Wróblewska said the blueprint spans paintings, sculptures, rare books and musical instruments from about 160 state museums. Private galleries would be encouraged to pack their collections to the same standard.
“We can no longer assume theoretical safety,” she said, adding that talks were already under way with governments willing to host the treasures temporarily, though she did not name them or specify possible locations.
The program is overseen by former military counter-intelligence deputy chief Maciej Matysiak, now heading a crisis-management unit in the ministry. It dovetails with Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s broader security agenda, which includes reinforcing borders and doubling the army to 500,000.
Warsaw modelled the plan on its 2022 support for Ukraine in relocating cultural heritage after Russia’s full-scale invasion and is updating paperwork to speed any eventual repatriation, Wróblewska added.
Similar contingency measures are being drafted in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The hardest task, she conceded, is selecting which pieces merit “priority evacuation” because “you cannot move everything”.
Poland is also still chasing art looted by Nazi Germany during World War Two. About 20 works come home each year from Germany, the United States and elsewhere, but thousands remain missing.
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Source: PAP