These holiday cards feature two different close-ups of a wartime photograph of Michelangelo’s Bruges Madonna, one of the most treasured works rescued by the Monuments Men during World War II.
 
As Allied forces advanced in early September 1944, retreating German forces secretly removed the Madonna from the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium. Smuggled under the cover of night in a Red Cross truck and wrapped in a simple mattress, the sculpture disappeared into the heart of Nazi-controlled Europe. After the war, the Monuments Men located the Madonna — still in the same mattress — deep within the Altaussee salt mine in Austria. From there it was brought to the Munich Central Collecting Point and ultimately returned to the Belgian people.
Preserve and share this powerful story of cultural salvation with those you love this holiday season.
 
8 cards with white envelopes (4 cards for each design)
7 × 5 inches
Boxed
Printed in the United States
Message inside: “Wishing you PEACE and JOY this HOLIDAY SEASON”