The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has referred this Sunday to the definitive execution of the sentence for the transfer of the mural paintings to the monastery of Sijena from the National Museum of Art of Catalonia. One day before the entrance of the Aragonese technicians in the facilities to analyze the state of the frescoes, the ministerial manager has requested compliance with the judicial mandate of the Supreme Court, although he has left the how in the hands of the MNAC.
“In relation to this issue, we have said it many times. There is a sentence that has to be fulfilled and, from here, it is up to the MNAC Board of Trustees to see how,” he said. Urtasun has also stressed that this has been his “position from the beginning” and therefore will be the governing body in charge of taking the following steps.
For now, they have ten business days since last Thursday to contribute an alternative schedule or accept the proposed by the government of Aragon and that the judge validated. Not being considered August a valid month, this period would end in early September, although technicians’ access to rooms 16 and 17 of the museum is already part of the Aragonese road map.
Urtasun has made these last statements from Mataró, where he has been received with boos by the Independence Association ANC (Catalan National Assembly). The protesters have carried banners with the message “Sijena, Universal Heritage”, “Urtasun, your silence will kill culture” or “Neither transfer nor plunder.”
The Generalitat says that “there will be no problem” on Monday
It is the climate that surrounds at the beginning of the schedule for the transfer of the frescoes, which will return to the place where they left during the 1936 fire, at the beginning of the civil war, and in the 60s of the last century. The seven -month roadmap consists of four phases, although the disassembly of the arches where the paintings of the Chapter Hall will not take place until the months of December, January and February. Transport will last a whole month, according to the data provided by the DGA.
Last Friday, the counselor of Education, Culture and Sports of the Regional Government, Tomasa Hernández, communicated the entry of the technicians to their Catalan counterpart. This responded that “there will be no problem”, although at the end of last week there was still no official communication by the MNAC Board, composed of the Generalitat and the Ministry of Culture.
