A small protest broke out Monday morning outdoors the Nationwide Artwork Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) as Aragonese technicians arrived to examine a set of contested Thirteenth-century murals that had been ordered to be returned to the Sijena Monastery by Spain’s Supreme Courtroom.
In accordance with El País, fewer than 50 demonstrators—organized by the Catalan Nationwide Meeting and joined by figures akin to former Catalan president Laura Borràs and ANC president Lluís Llach—gathered to oppose the court docket’s determination. Chanting slogans like “It’s not justice, it’s a plunder,” the group did not intercept the Aragonese staff, which entered the museum discreetly via a facet entrance.
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The go to marks a big step in implementing the controversial ruling, which concluded greater than a decade of litigation over the Romanesque murals, faraway from the Sijena Monastery in 1936 after a hearth throughout the Spanish Civil Battle. Although the works have been housed at MNAC ever since, the court docket discovered that the unique spiritual order had by no means lawfully transferred possession.
The Aragonese staff, led by restorer Natalia Martínez de Pisón, started their work with the so-called profane murals—much less fragile sections that could be the primary to maneuver. Their inspection, which can proceed via Wednesday, contains photogrammetry to evaluate situation and viability for transport.
Museum officers, nonetheless, stay adamant that relocating the extra delicate frescoes, particularly these salvaged from the chapter home, might trigger irreversible injury. MNAC has submitted filings warning the court docket of the dangers and is predicted to formally contest the execution order on conservation grounds.
MNAC is proposing a phased strategy, beginning with sturdier works eliminated within the Nineteen Sixties. However the destiny of the core murals—already mounted, reconstructed, and climate-protected—stays unsure, caught between judicial mandate and the boundaries of preservation.