--- a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/XSSFSheet.java	
+++ a/src/ooxml/java/org/apache/poi/xssf/usermodel/XSSFSheet.java	
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ import org.apache.poi.openxml4j.exceptions.PartAlreadyExistsException;
 import org.apache.poi.openxml4j.opc.PackagePart;
 import org.apache.poi.openxml4j.opc.PackageRelationship;
 import org.apache.poi.openxml4j.opc.PackageRelationshipCollection;
+import org.apache.poi.openxml4j.opc.PackagingURIHelper;
 import org.apache.poi.openxml4j.opc.TargetMode;
 import org.apache.poi.poifs.crypt.HashAlgorithm;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.SpreadsheetVersion;
@@ -536,6 +537,13 @@ public class XSSFSheet extends POIXMLDocumentPart implements Sheet {
         
         //drawingNumber = #drawings.size() + 1
         int drawingNumber = getPackagePart().getPackage().getPartsByContentType(XSSFRelation.DRAWINGS.getContentType()).size() + 1;
+        try {
+            // bug 52836: if there are some stray parts left over from badly formatted files, we should skip those
+            getPackagePart().getPackage().removePart(PackagingURIHelper.createPartName(XSSFRelation.DRAWINGS.getFileName(drawingNumber)));
+        } catch (InvalidFormatException e) {
+            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        }
         RelationPart rp = createRelationship(XSSFRelation.DRAWINGS, XSSFFactory.getInstance(), drawingNumber, false);
         XSSFDrawing drawing = rp.getDocumentPart();
         String relId = rp.getRelationship().getId();