The judicial battle for the return of the mural paintings of the monastery of Sijena adds a new chapter. Judge Rocío Pilar Vargas, magistrate of the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 2 of Huesca, has issued this Thursday the final execution order of the sentence that forces the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC) to restore the pieces within seven months. The sentence establishes that the museum can provide a new schedule within ten days, in which case it will be resolved on it. That is, it will not be accepted automatically.
This new sentence is known almost a week after last Friday, July 18, the MNAC registered the last of his writings in which he requested to know the conditions of the Chapter Chapter of the Monastery of Santa María de Sijena, the place where the paintings that covered a good part of their arches and walls as the only formula to save them from the weather were torn from. The director of the museum, Pepe Serra, had already made clear weeks before the process of transferring what remains of those fragile murals consisted of three parts (disassembly, transport and delivery) and that it was impossible to elaborate a plan without knowing each of them.
The MNAC has repeatedly informed the judge of its “technical inability” to move the paintings without damaging them. In response, the Jorge Azcón executive presented a letter in which he included a report on the viability of the transfer and conditions of the Chapter Room. That work plan now the holder of the Court number 2 orders that it be executed raised several phases of prior documentation and procedural trials; Drafting of disassembly, packaging and transfer projects; tenders of the services; and execution of disassembly, packaging and transfer projects.
In that road map of the works there was added pressure: the Aragonese government claims 5,000 euros a day of fine in case of non -compliance with the milestones set in the schedule. In addition, a possible crime of disobedience by the director of the museum, Pepe Serra, and the president of his Board of Trustees, Joan Oliveras was noticed.