The Monuments Men

If you want to be inspired, go see 'The Monuments Men'. Take Kleenex. I cried through the entire movie. In one of the final scenes, I nearly fell out of my seat when I saw a painting I had taken a picture of in an Italian restaurant in Romania. The one I saw was a copy, of course, but I had no idea the original was one of the millions of pieces of art stolen by the Nazis and recovered by the Monuments Men! 

The painting is Leonardo da Vinci's The Lady with an Ermine. It was hanging on the wall behind the table where our group was sitting. Had the Monuments Men not recovered the original in a mine far underground in Germany, I would never have been able to admire the beauty of it on the wall of a tiny restaurant in Barlad, Romania because there would no longer have been an original from which to make copies.

The Monuments Men saved the world's art and culture. They made a difference on a massive scale. But their actions also made a difference in one life, mine, in a restaurant in Romania; yet I never knew until yesterday when I watched their story portrayed in a movie.

I would like to say well done and thank you to the men and women who saved Europe's art.