Painting stolen in 1994 returns to Poland

'Portrait of a Young Woman' by Wilhelm Volkhart, stolen in 1994 from the National Museum in Wroclaw, western Poland, has returned home.

The portrait, painted by Volkhart in 1863, had been found in the offer of an auction house in Satow, Germany, which withdrew the painting after Poland had notified it of the theft, and later returned it to the Polish side.

Since 1994, the painting had been included in the Polish register of works of art, which had been either stolen or illegally taken abroad.

Deputy Prime Minister and Culture Minister Piotr Glinski, who attended Monday's ceremony during which the painting was returned to the Wroclaw museum, praised the work of the ministry's department for the restitution of works of art.

"Thanks to its work, over 600 works of art have recently returned to Poland," Glinski said, adding that there still were 66,000 items in the base of World War Two losses and 12,000 in the register of works of art, which had been either stolen or smuggled abroad.

Wilhelm Volkhart was a German 19th-century painter.