Sijena: art as political spoils

In 1995, the Holy See decreed the fragmentation of the diocese of Lleida, and 111 parishes were assigned to the new diocese of Barbastro-Montsó. The decision was perceived as a gesture of Spanish nationalist assertion, aligned with political interests opposed to autonomous Catalonia. It represented a territorial, pastoral, and symbolic loss for the diocese of Lleida, which Catalan and Lleida institutions meekly accepted. This change prompted a demand for the return of the works of art preserved in Lleida, and the case took on a strong political and media charge, becoming a symbolic dispute between two ways of understanding cultural and religious identity. The evolution of the boundaries of the diocese of Lleida is a paradigmatic case of the historical mismatch between political and ecclesiastical borders that has generated controversies not only administrative but also identity-based, cultural, and heritage-related.

The Supreme Court ruling ordering the transfer of the mural paintings from the Sijena Monastery—saved after a vandalistic attempt at their destruction in the autumn of 1936—from the MNAC to Aragon not only perpetrates a new injustice but also enshrines a pattern we know all too well in Lleida. Already on December 11, 2017, under Article 155, in the dead of night, with the active participation of the State and amidst the painful passivity of the Paeria (Chairman of the Court), 44 works were removed from the Lleida Museum to the Sijena Monastery, in compliance with a ruling of historic significance. That episode was experienced in Catalonia as an institutional and cultural humiliation, and as a turning point in the relationship between heritage and sovereignty. Once again—this time with the Right Honorable Isla at the head of the Catalan government—the same situation as in December 2017 is repeating itself, this time with the MNAC, the leading museum for Romanesque art on the Iberian Peninsula.

The Sijena case constitutes—like that of the construction projects in the Strip—a political and cultural attack. On the one hand, through the judiciary, the Spanish state is once again passing judgment on a heritage that is part of our collective history, one that has been preserved and valued without any recognition from the Spanish and Aragonese governments.

Furthermore, as several international experts—including Gianluigi Colalucci, restorer of the Sistine Chapel—have ruled, a hypothetical transfer of the Sijena paintings and the subsequent change in environmental conditions will irreversibly endanger them. Also from Aragon, voices have been heard calling for caution, highlighting technical shortcomings in the planning of the transfer, and denouncing the lack of direct analysis of the murals. However, once again, the ruling has prioritized symbolism and political calculations over the protection of a heritage as transcendent as it is fragile.

There's a bitter irony in all this. The same state that allowed the monastery to fall into disrepair for decades, compounded by the historical lack of interest of the Aragonese authorities, is now rewarding this neglect by taking ownership of paintings that Catalonia has maintained, restored, conserved, and displayed with rigor and respect. And it will do so by literally removing them from one of Europe's leading centers, the MNAC.

Once again, as in 2017, the reaction of the Catalan and Lleida authorities is the same. They opt for silence, deciding not to confront the situation—even symbolically—and displaying their historic reaction: to comply, obey, and look the other way, in a show of institutional submission.

The Supreme Court's ruling is not only a monumental judicial error. It is a threat to European cultural heritage. It also demonstrates how the Spanish state fails to understand the value of shared heritage, instead turning it into a political weapon and showing no interest in respecting the historical and cultural ties of the peoples it administers. Finally, it constitutes a missed opportunity to defend an open, plural culture, capable of preserving and explaining through knowledge, not through imposition.

Historically, Catalonia has made heritage protection a cornerstone of the country. And what's at stake today isn't just a collection of religious art. It's a model. A way of understanding culture. And also a way of understanding dignity.