National Art Museum questions Aragonese government calendar to return Sixena murals

The Catalan National Art Museum, MNAC, has questioned Spain's regional government of Aragon about a seven-month calendar for returning the Sixena murals after a court ruling. The museum doubts the schedule suggested by the Aragonese authorities and proposes an alternative plan divided into phases spanning up to 1.5 years.

The museum has always defended that the paintings are at risk of damage if they are transferred from its rooms to Sixena, in the region of Aragon. On Monday, MNAC even delivered several reports by international experts to a judge in Aragon on the "great dangers" and the "extreme difficulty" of the operation.

The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the world's most prominent international body working on preserving cultural property, issued reports. 

The body highlights that the "paintings can be considered survivors of a catastrophic loss, rescued in emergency circumstances," the text reads.

Other international figures, including Italian expert Simona Sajeva, have criticized the transfer due to its risks.

Simona had already issued a report back in 2016, and nine years later, the expert analyzes the "fragility of the paintings and the critical key dates proposed by the Aragonese government."

Members of the MNAC museum also questioned the company's expertise working for the Aragonese authorities for an operation of "this size."

Judicial decision

A jury in Osca approved the ruling by Spain's Supreme Court to force MNAC to transfer the Sixena paintings, which have been in custody in Catalonia for decades. The medieval Romanesque paintings have been at the center of a long dispute, as Aragon claims the pieces back. While the MNAC has never rejected transferring them, they are worried about the risks and the cultural damage.

Before summer, the judge in Osca forced a seven-month calendar to fulfill the judicial ruling, however, it opened the door to submit an alternative calendar. The new proposal spans 64 weeks (one year and three months), which could reach 1.5 years due to the "complexity of the works," as the text submitted to the judge reads.

The museum also issues several draft required documents for Aragon to supervise, as the Catalan museum still does not know the final location of the paintings, neither the installation, nor the climate nor conservation conditions of the site.

MNAC frescos

The murals in question are from the Chapter House of the Sixena Monastery in Aragon 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.

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.

Press play below to listen to the Filling the Sink podcast on the Sixena frescoes, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, YouTube or Spotify.