The MNAC declares the museum's "technical inability" to move the paintings from Sijena.
The board invites the government of Aragon to join a technical committee
BarcelonaAs had been discussed in recent days, the MNAC board of trustees agreed this Monday to file "an enforcement incident in court to report the museum's technical inability" to transfer the murals from the chapter house of the Sijena monastery "within the timeframe established by the civil procedure law nor technically." Furthermore, in the desire to comply with the Supreme Court ruling which forces them to return them, the board of trustees agrees to "request the different administrations that make up the consortium to create a working group, of a technical nature and composed solely of specialized personnel, in order to evaluate and carry out the necessary work to comply with the legal resolutions issued in relation to the paintings in the chapter house of Sixena." The incident of enforcement can only be raised before the judge who issued the sentence, that is, the Court of First Instance Number 2 of Huesca, as explained by Xavier Muñoz Puiggròs, who was the lawyer for the Generalitat in the Sijena litigation.
The museum's board of trustees also agrees to "send the government of Aragon the invitation to join this technical committee, appointing for this purpose the specialists it deems appropriate, who would work together with the technicians designated by the MNAC and the consortium administrations."
According to ARA, the meeting of the board of trustees began with a speech by the museum's director, Pepe Serra, explaining the technical impossibility of moving the murals. Serra also defended the work done by Josep Gudiol in the rescue and restoration of the paintings.
Regarding the composition of the committee, it is expected to have a marked international character and include technicians from the Spanish Institute of Cultural Heritage (IPCE), the mural painting committee of the International Council on Monuments and Historic Sites (ICOMOS), and the International Centre for Studies on the Preservation and Restoration of Culture. The National Council for Culture and the Arts (CoNCA) has supported the museum, and in a statement, states that it considers "especially pertinent the creation of the specialized working group, made up of cultural heritage experts from the various parties involved, with the task of reaching technically rigorous conclusions, in the service of the cultural heritage affected."
The MNAC board's statement highlights "the impeccable work carried out by the museum over the years in the safekeeping and conservation of these paintings, saved and rescued by Josep Gudiol in 1936 after being severely damaged by a fire during the Civil War and permanently displayed in the museum." It also emphasizes that the museum has guaranteed "universal accessibility and that they have been visited by millions of people and studied within the framework of the most prestigious scientific conferences on Romanesque art in the world."
Jorge Azcón: "We will work together, but we won't let ourselves be fooled."
The President of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, expressed his willingness to collaborate with the MNAC (National Museum of Art and Culture) in the transfer, but warned that he does not want to be "deceived," and emphasized that "technically" it is possible to carry out the operation and comply with the ruling. He also recalled that it was already known that these "difficulties" would arise, so he trusts that the administrations that form part of the consortium will not try to "delay" the transfer. "We will work together, but we will not be fooled," Azcón emphasized, who also requested that the working group be clear from the outset that the objective is to comply with the ruling and for the paintings to return to Vilanova de Sijena as soon as possible.
Likewise, the President of Aragon wanted to make it clear that his government does not want the creation of a working group to serve to "indefinitely prolong" the delivery of the murals. For this reason, he added that one of the first things he will demand will be a "timeline" to verify the willingness of the different administrations, both Catalan and Spanish, to ensure that the Sijena paintings arrive in Aragon as soon as possible.
Since the court that must resolve the incident is the same one that ruled that the museum should return them, the transfer seems a matter of months, according to Muñoz Puiggròs. "These assets will be back in Huesca between Christmas and next summer, there is no doubt about it," he predicts. "This issue has been absolutely political," he emphasizes. Muñoz Puiggròs also regrets that the administrations have renounced continuing through the judicial route by elevating the case to the Constitutional Court, as he proposed. in an article in the ARA"A path could have been opened that would have stopped the execution, but here in Catalonia, a political decision has also been made."
Jorge Español is considering requesting "forced execution" of the sentence.
After learning of the MNAC's statement, Jorge Español, the lawyer for the Vilanova de Sijena City Council, described the museum's board of trustees' decision as a "mockery." Speaking to Efe, Español pointed out that the board could even be guilty of disobedience to judicial authority because the transfer was already settled and decided in favor of the interests of Aragon in the 2016 ruling by the Court of First Instance No. 2 of Huesca, which ordered the court's decision.
Español asserts that the museum's decision compels his client to request "forced execution" of the ruling. According to the lawyer, it is a strategy similar to the one used with the pieces from Sijena's heritage that were in the Lleida Museum. He also regrets that all the technical opinions are mostly provided by the MNAC's own specialists and that the Aragonese government's representatives have so far been denied access to study the procedure to be followed for a safe and secure transfer.
Regarding the possibility that this incident of execution could be accepted and it could be concluded that the paintings could not be moved, he emphasized that the MNAC should face payment of their current economic value, which in his opinion would be close to "one billion euros."
