The mural paintings of Sijena were saved in the autumn of 1936 after a vandalistic attempt at their destruction by an anarchist group. They were rescued by Catalan technicians with the help of local residents, led by art historian and architect Josep Gudiol, who worked with Ventura Gassol, overruling the advice of his superior, Jeroni Martorell, who had canceled operations in the Aragon Strip because two young Service collaborators had been murdered by libertarian militias at the beginning of the war.strappo, the operation was successful and the paintings were transferred to Barcelona, where they have been exhibited in the current MNAC since 1961. Before, at the end of the war, Gudiol's work was award-winning by Franco's regime, with the revocation of his architectural qualifications and an initial exile in France and the United States, where he had studied as a young man and as a university professor. Upon his return, following the example of the Frick Library in New York, he founded the Amatller Institute of Hispanic Art—in the Amatller house on Passeig de Gràcia—where he restored—and completed damaged parts—the paintings of Sijena, a jewel of the Romanesque.
Has the Aragonese government ever expressed its gratitude for this historic rescue? No. What it did was skillfully exploit the uncertainty surrounding ownership to, via the Church, secure ownership and reclaim the property. What would have happened if, during the war, Gudiol hadn't acted with the speed and technical quality—by the standards of the time—that he did? Has there been any historical reparation for this effort? On the contrary, the MNAC and the Catalan government have had to submit to a judicial and political siege for years for having done what they should have done: save, conserve, study, and exhibit the mural paintings in one of the world's great Romanesque museums. Does anyone believe that if the operation had been led by the Ministry of Culture and the paintings had ended up in a major museum in Madrid, the Aragonese claim would have been made?
It's curious that Aragon acts as if the MNAC weren't the leading Spanish museum of Romanesque art. Within the Spanish state, this is the best place for the paintings. Risking damaging them by moving them is culturally irresponsible. The MNAC should decline to take on the project, exercising conscientious objection based on professional ethics. Politically, the Catalan government should prioritize the preservation of the heritage it holds. This is what Catalan institutions have done for almost a century. Resources and money cannot be allocated to an action that goes against its heritage.
There is, moreover, a relevant secular element that Aragon also seems to want to ignore, out of a kind of atavistic family jealousy. At the end of the 12th century, when the chapter house of the royal monastery of Santa María de Sijena was painted, Catalonia and Aragon were already united under the same crown. The first common king was Alfonso the Chaste (1157–1196), son of the Count of Barcelona, Ramon Berenguer IV, and the Infanta Peronella of Aragon. King Alfonso is buried in Poblet. The paintings of Sijena were precisely started the year of his death, in 1196. The fact that they are in Barcelona also has a historical meaning, just as the Archive of the Crown of Aragon is in the Catalan capital (although in this case the name does not exactly mean the point: the vast majority of documents are from the Royal House of Barcelona; the Aragonese papers; the Aragonese papers. Alfons the Cast was the one who in 1194 commissioned a documentary compilation from the jurist and dean of the Barcelona seat Ramon de Caldes: the Liber feudorum maior, with a thousand documents, a collection that is at the origin of the Archive of the Crown of Aragon).
In short, the paintings of Sijena can be seen as loot to be recovered or as a link to be preserved and strengthened. Sadly, the vision of the Aragonese authorities is clear. Catalonia and the MNAC have done their heritage work very well for years. No one can now ask them to undo and ruin it. It's not fair.
