In the garden of the Sieniva Palace (Podkarpackie), archaeologists discovered silver chests and cutlery, which were probably part of the collection of Princess Izabele Czartoryjska. It is not known under what conditions they are hiding and what else is hidden on earth. Further research will follow.
Sieniawa Palace belongs to the state treasury. The host is the company that won the tender to run the hotel and catering business there last year. The new managers renovated it to better adapt it to the new function and applied for a license for archaeological research. Groundbreaking work started a week ago. Arkadiusz Telega and Jakub M. Nibilski from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences are conducting the archeological research in cooperation with the Zasanie Historical Association.
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– Knowing the history of this palace – Queen Czartoryska kept her collections here – I felt that this place hides its secrets, – says the manager of the palace Jakub Toborovich.
The 300-year-old palace was built by Michal Hieronymus Sieniawski. It owes its current appearance to the Czartoryski family, who expanded the palace 150 years later. It includes, among other things, famous paintings: “Lady with Ermine” by Leonardo da Vinci and “Portrait of a Young Man” by Raphael Santi. “Portrait of a young man” has not been found yet.
Sieniawa Grzegorz Slabiak Palace
They dug up silver treasures
Archaeologists found a valuable find on the first day. A set of silver utensils (six small spoons and six large spoons) and two decorated silver boxes were dug out of the soil. – Maybe it's a bowl of candy and a stair case. They haven't been opened, so we don't know if there's anything inside yet. Such small boxes were usually used to store small sweets and biscuits or jam for breakfast, explains archaeologist Monika Broszko from the Regional Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Przemyśl.
The found objects were not buried deep. They are in very good condition. – They were probably hidden in a leather bag, pieces of which were also found. The tools were stacked diagonally, adds Jakub Toborovic.
The same cup and candy box are in the collection of the National Museum in Krakow. On this basis, it was initially determined that their author was Gottlieb Satzger from Augsburg, Germany.
Mysterious story, “blood chilling”
The mystery is when and under what conditions the found silver found its way to the ground. – The initial assumptions are that it was in 1939 that the Germans approached Sieniva, – says Toborovich.
– This could be the result of a bloody story. Or maybe someone moved them to another place at night, maybe they fell from the car, maybe someone stole them and they fell, – wonders Monika Broshko.
The artifacts found were protected. They have been in the ground for a long time, so they need to be cleaned and preserved. Officially, they belong to the Przeworsk Museum.
Archaeologists from the Zasanie Historical Association discovered silver chests and cutlery
In addition to silver, they include, among others: coins from the time of Augustus III of Saxony and a French artillery shell from the First World War.
The study will continue
Archaeological research continues in Sieniva. Here you can discover a huge area of 30 hectares. No research has ever been done there before. – I hope that many more discoveries are ahead of us. Moreover, because this is an area with a great history, both the Sieniawski and Czartoryski families, who had a great influence on the creation of collections and museum objects,” adds Broszko.
One of the chests hidden in the ground after clearing the historical association of Zasanie
Main photo source: ZASANIE Historical Association
