The judge rejects the appeals of the Generalitat and the MNAC and limits access to the warehouses in the disputed works
The museum maintains that all the Sijena mural paintings in question are in the galleries and that none are in storage.
The judge in Huesca has rejected the appeals filed by the Catalan government and the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) against the document authorizing the Vilanova de Sijena Town Council to question museum staff and enter the storage area to search for more frescoes from the monastery. The ruling states that access to the storage area is limited to the works in dispute—listed in document number 11 of the lawsuit—and that they "are not located in rooms" 16 and 17 of the museum. "All of this is in order to allow the plaintiff to establish a definitive timeline," the text states. In this regard, the MNAC maintains that none of the frescoes are in storage and that all of them are located in the two rooms. According to MNAC officials, the works in dispute are "perfectly identified and indicated" in the ruling and are those on display in rooms 16 and 17. Regarding the questioning of technicians, the court order indicates that the authorization is limited to the Vilanova City Council "obtaining from the MNAC and Aragonese government technicians the information necessary to issue their respective reports, with the ultimate goal of allowing the executing party to prepare the appropriate timeline." There are none in the warehouse.
Sources at the MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalonia) have told ACN (Cuban News Agency) that the judge's ruling supports their position because it states that the measure to enter the museum's storage facilities is "limited" to whether any of the paintings mentioned in the judgment are not on display in rooms 16 and 17. In this context, the museum maintains that all the works are in storage. According to MNAC officials, the works in dispute are "perfectly identified and listed" in the judgment and are those exhibited in rooms 16 and 17. On November 4, the museum stated that the scope of the judgment was clearly defined: the paintings in rooms 16 and 17 of the MNAC. It also stated that entering the storage areas to search for additional items was not part of the legal procedure.
For its part, the Aragonese government explained that, regarding the questioning of the technicians, the judicial authorization "is limited to gathering necessary information from the technicians of the Vilanova de Sijena City Council to prepare the reports, in order to allow the executing party to draw up the timeline." Furthermore, the City Council's lawyer, Jorge Español, explained to the ACN news agency that he has requested the judge to send the judicial police to enter the warehouses.
