Supreme Court forces Catalan National Museum to return Medieval Romanesque paintings

The Supreme Court has ordered the Catalan National Museum of Art (MNAC) in Barcelona to return the Romanesque murals to the Sixena monastery in Aragon. 

The murals in question date back to the 13th century and are considered singular pieces of the Romanesque era.   

According to the court, MNAC was never the owner of the works, and only had them in its possession, meaning that the court case doesn’t expire. 

The decision upholds a 2016 court ruling that ordered the paintings to be returned to their original place, putting an end to an eleven-year-long litigation process.  

The museum, meanwhile, has warned that the removal of the murals from the current location could cause serious damage to the works. 

The Supreme Court has ordered the Catalan National Museum of Art (MNAC) in Barcelona to return the Romanesque murals to the Sixena monastery in Aragon. 

The murals in question date back to the 13th century and are considered singular pieces of the Romanesque era.   

According to the court, MNAC was never the owner of the works, and only had them in its possession, meaning that the court case doesn’t expire. 

The decision upholds a 2016 court ruling that ordered the paintings to be returned to their original place, putting an end to an eleven-year-long litigation process.  

The museum, meanwhile, has warned that the removal of the murals from the current location could cause serious damage to the works. 

"Immense satisfaction” with ruling

Shortly after the ruling, Jorge Azcón, the president of Aragón, wrote on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that he felt an “immense satisfaction” with the court’s decision.

He added that it would “culminate once we can enjoy the paintings in their original setting.”

Azcón also wrote that the ruling “definitively resolves the dispute in favor of the people of Aragón, and the integrity of its cultural heritage.”

Former president of Aragón, Javier Lambán, also celebrated the ruling, stating on X that the verdict is a “triumph for the rule of law.”

Catalan response

The Catalan government has called for “caution” while it finishes analyzing the ruling. At the same time, it will prioritize the “integrity” and “proper conservation” of the works.

“We will not make any decision that could jeopardize the preservation and integrity of these paintings,” presidency minister, Albert Dalmau, told the press.

Dalmau also said that “many experts” have warned about the risks of a potential move of the frescos.

Former Catalan culture minister, Lluís Puig, who was acquitted of disobedience charges for not voluntarily returning 44 artworks in 2017, regretted the ruling, stating that it “will cause irreversible damage to a part of the Catalan cultural heritage of incalculable value” and warning that “those to blame will be held accountable one day.”

Puig left his position as culture minister and fled to Belgium following the 2017 independence referendum.

Laura Borras, who succeeded Puig as Minister of Culture from 2018 to 2019, called the ruling “artistic lawfare” and “institutional Catalanophobia.”

The court decision

The lawsuit was originally filed by the government of Aragon on behalf of the religious community of the Sixena monastery.

The initial court agreed with the claim and ordered the paintings to be returned to the monastery. The Catalan government and MNAC appealed the decision, which was rejected before the Catalan institutions brought the case before the Supreme Court.

Now, the High Court has determined that Aragon has the right to reclaim the frescos, on behalf of the religious community in Sixena.

The court also ruled that MNAC was never the rightful owner of the frescos, as no contract of ownership exists. The person who supposedly signed such an agreement didn’t have the authority to do so.

Additionally, it was ruled that the paintings were at the museum under a “deposit” arrangement after being removed from the monastery. 

The ruling does not clarify how the frescos must be returned.

MNAC frescos

The mural paintings in question are from the Chapter House of Sixena and date back to the year 1200.

They are a “unique, most important example of medieval Hispanic art,” according to the MNAC, and depict scenes from the Old and the New Testament, including scenes of God showing Paradise to Adam and Eve, and the Resurrection of Christ.

Origin of the conflict

The dispute over the frescos stems from a 1995 decision by the Vatican to transfer 111 parishes, one of which was the one in Sixena, to the Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón in Aragon that until then had been part of the diocese of Lleida in Western Catalonia.  Later in the 90s, the artworks were purchased by the Catalan government.

But the Vatican’s decision triggered legal disputes over the works of art, and this prompted the government in Aragon to bring the matter before the court in 2014.

44 pieces of art had originally been at the Museum of Lleida, but were removed by force by Spanish military police in 2017, after Catalonia had refused to give them up despite a court order.

At the time, Mireia Boya from the Catalan far-left party CUP called the removal an attempt “to humiliate Catalonia.”

Civil War

All the Sixena artworks were part of a larger collection of more than a thousand items removed from the monastery during the Spanish Civil War and taken to Catalonia.

In 1936, the Sixena convent was set on fire, along with all the precious artifacts inside.

That very same year as the blaze, specialists took the art to Barcelona to safeguard and restore it. Some of the items were taken to the Lleida Museum, and others made it into the MNAC in 1940.