Aragon insists on the return of medieval frescoes

BARCELONA. The municipal authorities of Aragon, an autonomous region in northeastern Spain, formally sent a request to the government of neighboring Catalonia to return the Romanesque frescoes which are currently in the collection of the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña) in Barcelona.

Photo: courtesy of MNAC

The frescoes that date back to the early 13th century were taken out of the convent of Santa María la Real de Sijena during the Spanish Civil War. The monastery itself suffered a great deal during the conflict. In 1980, the nuns of the order, which owned the monastery, ceded what remained of the historic building located in the province of Huesca in the Spanish Pyrenees to the government of Aragon. The municipality, together with the Fondación Caja Madrid fund, developed a rehabilitation project that lasted a total of 11 years, from 1988 to 2009, and required funding of 3.3 million euros.

Despite the fact that litigation over the return of medieval frescoes has been going on for more than one year, the spokesman for the museum in Barcelona declined to comment on the process, saying that this case concerns only the governments of Aragon and Catalonia.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru