Poland: Marble Hitler head unearthed in Gdansk

The head weighs about 60kg and is in good condition after its years underground

A marble sculpture of Adolf Hitler's head has been unearthed by construction workers in the Polish city of Gdansk.

The bust, which is 50cm (20in) high, was found buried in a garden at the city's National Museum, Radio Poland reports. It bears the inscription "Thorak 1942", identifying it as the work of Josef Thorak, one of the Third Reich's official sculptors.

It's not yet clear how it came to be buried, but it likely happened in 1945 as the Soviet army approached the city, according to Lech Lopuski, a curator at the museum. "Had it been found right after the war, it would have definitely been destroyed," he tells the Dziennik Baltycki website. "Somebody made an effort to properly hide it, it was buried some 60cm underground." Mr Lopuski notes that the sculpture remained concealed in the garden despite repeated digging over the years to install a fountain and flower beds.

The museum says it currently has no plans to put the piece on display. "For the time being, it goes to a warehouse," says Wojciech Bonislawski, the museum's director. "It needs to be studied scientifically to find out who ordered it, where it stood and how it ended up in the museum."

Thorak's sculptures were often enormous, designed to adorn official buildings and public spaces. In May, two 33ft-long (10m) bronze horse statues, which had stood outside Hitler's chancellery in Berlin, were recovered by German police, having been missing since 1989.

Thorak became a favourite sculptor of Albert Speer - Hitler's chief architect

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