The MNAC informs the Huesca court about the technical difficulties in transporting the paintings from Sijena.

BarcelonaThe National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) has sent a written statement to the Huesca court in charge of executing the the ruling on the return of the Sijena paintings to inform him of the willingness to comply with the mandate, but points out that a careful diagnosis is necessary the works of the chapter house to ensure its conservation, in accordance with European heritage regulations and Spanish heritage law. The ruling requires the MNAC to dismantle, move, and replace the paintings in the monastery. Therefore, the museum argues, all steps taken will also depend on the condition of the chapter house. For example, it's not the same whether the paintings should be boxed or on public display.

"The studies carried out so far are not only descriptive in nature, but also expand the quantitative information or the location of the incidents detected. The studies corroborate the conclusions regarding the fragility of the paintings and the certain risk of irreparable damage to them during their removal and subsequent transfer. The MNAC is working "within the framework of compliance with the judgment."

In the letter, the MNAC assures that it is ready to immediately return the profane paintings in the Room of the Queen of Sijena, but recalls that the fragility of the paintings in the chapter house poses numerous technical difficulties. The MNAC considers the judgment on the return of the paintings to be "legally unquestionable." However, it insists on "the extreme fragility" of the works and the irreversible damage they may suffer in the "arduous and complicated actions necessary to comply with the resolution." Therefore, the museum warns that the The "willingness" to comply with the ruling is limited at all times by Spanish heritage law and the provisions established therein to guarantee the preservation of works of art.

The director of the MNAC, Pepe Serra, expressed his "absolute availability" to hold a meeting of "exclusively technical" content with the head of the Huesca court in order to inform her "fully and in detail" of the process carried out to analyze the feasibility of the ordered transfer.

"A ploy," according to lawyer Jorge Español

For his part, the lawyer for the Vilanova de Sijena City Council, Jorge Español, has assured, in statements to Efe, that after the first letter sent by the MNAC after the Supreme Court confirmed the order of return of the paintings, in which it reported the technical impossibility of carrying out the transfer, the new position expresses a "Copernican turn", although only in appearance.

"Although it is clear that they will return the profane paintings of the Queen's Room immediately, however, we are sure that this is a ploy or deception to try to avoid the return of the mural paintings in the chapter house, by insistently citing the heritage law of looting or poor conservation of a cultural asset," says Español.

"What the document reveals is the MNAC's remote hope that the Ministry of Culture would intervene to prevent their transfer, which would be truly unheard of but is hinted at," says the lawyer, for whom the transfer of the mural paintings from the chapter house is "true."