May 13, 1945

Alabama native Robert Posey and his assistant, Lincoln Kirstein, found more than 6,500 paintings and other artworks stolen by the Nazis in Altaussee, Austria. Trained as an architect at Auburn University, Posey served as a Monuments, Fine Arts & Archives Officer, or Monuments Man, in Europe during World War II. The artworks recovered included Michelangelo’s Bruges Madonna, Vermeer’s The Astronomer, and Van Eyck’s The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, often considered the most important artworks stolen by Germany. In return for rescuing the artwork, Posey was awarded the Order of Leopold from Belgium and named a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Robert Posey (1904-1977) was one of the famous “Monuments Men” who rescued artworks and other treasures stolen from homes in countries invaded by Nazi Germany. Posey was given awards from the French and Belgian governments for returning some of their most valued artworks after World War II. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Photo courtesy of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art)

This is an interior view of rows of art pieces in one of the many salt mine chambers in Alt Ausee, Austria, in which Nazis hid looted works of art during World War II. The ladder in right-center was reported to have been nine feet tall. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Photo courtesy of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art)

The Madonna of Bruges during recovery from the Altaussee salt mine, 1945. (Bundesdenmalamt Wein, Wikimedia)

Madonna with child, Brügge cathedral, Belgium, 2005. (Elke Wetzig, Wikimedia)

The Ghent Altarpiece recovered from the Altaussee salt mine at the end of World War II, c. 1945. (National Archives and Records Administration, Wikimedia)

The Ghent Altarpiece. (Wikimedia)

The Astronomer. (Wikimedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.