WE SAVE THE PRADO!
The front of the art in the Spanish civil war
(By Arturo Colorado Castellary)
The great odyssey of the evacuation and rescue of the Spanish artistic patrimony during the civil war is one of the most extraordinary and disinterested feats of our time. In her soldiers, Spaniards and foreigners participated intellectual and working, civil and, who gave everything it to make save of the danger works of art of the Museum of the Prado, of the Real Palace, of the Dump, thousands of works of first importance, that without their work had been destroyed for the whole humanity.
From the 4 to the 9 of February of 1939, in seventy and trucks precipitadamente loaded by the republican forces, in the chaos of the exodus and under the systematic bombing of the aviation of Franc and his adláteres - the Cóndor Legion and Italian Legionary Aviation left Spain by the the most seeded French border of the Spanish artistic patrimony.
There the Vela'zquezes, goyas and the grecos of the Prado, the most important works of the Real Academy of San Fernando, of the Dump, the Real Palace, the Palace of Liria traveled in tight company and so many other museums, Spanish collections and churches. This unusual fact and without precedents in history still is not today known for great part of the Spaniards.
The irrational violence that unties in all war - increased if this one has civil character lowered from the first moments on the artistic patrimony. In the republican zone, numerous churches and convents were set afire by uncontrolled elements that saw in the religious buildings the multisecular oppression of the Church, that supported the military uprising in plain language; at the same time, the political and union organizations of the left confiscated the buildings of the nobility and the Church, in a taking of being able of the popular masses of the places that until that moment had been forbidden to them.
From the beginning of the fight, the Government of the Republic assumed the task of protection and putting safe from the cultural goods in danger; the organization of the Central Meeting of the Artistic Treasure by Joseph Renau, Chief of a main directorate of Beautiful Arts, whose in front it would put to Timoteo Blond Perez, University professor and Assistant director of the Museum of Modern Art of Madrid, as well as the put into operation of the delegated meetings which they acted in all the territory under republican mandate, supposed the most important step in the extraordinary work of protection of the artistic patrimony.
But a new danger came to lower itself on works of the art, most serious and continued of all the fight. The aerial harassment of the rebellious military on the republican populations - with an indiscriminate and devastating bombing it did not make distinction between military objectives and civil.
Madrid, practically surrounded, underwent a systematic bombing producing in its inhabitants a continuous suffering. Also the artistic monuments were victims of the bombing; it was the case of the Academy of Beautiful Arts of San Fernando, of the National Library, the National Archaeological Museum or the Real Palace, this one last one with enormous destructions to be in forward edge of fire of the Franco supporters. The 16 of November of 1936, between the 19 and 20 hours, the Museum of the Prado underwent one of these attacks in spite of the flares that indicated their situation and of their isolated character. They were the nine incendiary pumps that fell on the museum, in addition to others in the immediate environs, as well as three pumps of great power on the Stroll of the Prado, to few meters of the facade. The assistant director of the Prado, F.J. Sanchez-Corner, described in a letter of 28 of December of 1936 directed to the Office the International of Museums “the breakage of thousands of crystals of the large windows, galleries and ceilings, among other flaws”, that the taken photos show to us.
The Government of the Republic decided to transfer his residence from Madrid to Valencia at the beginning of November of 1936; he left the capital day 7, and three days later he made the first expedition of art works.
One began therefore one releases peregrination that would last near three years. The policy of evacuation of art works, from Madrid to Valencia, from there to Barcelona, in one fled permanent one from the front military, took them to three deposits located in the last years of the Catalan Pyrenees, in the castle of Peralada, the one of San Fernando de Figueras and in the talc mine of the Vajol. At the end of 1938 and principles of 1939, after the republican defeat in the front of the Ebro, the Government of the Republic lacked means and time necessary out of danger to put the treasure artistic that so jealously had kept.
The nationalistic attack on the zone and the inexorable approach of the troops of Franc to the deposits of the artistic treasure, did that their rescue, by means of the evacuation to the foreigner, outside a task urgent and, given to the republican weakness and the ruling chaos between their forces, only attainable by means of the international intervention.
At the end of December of 1938, the painter Jose Maria Sert initiated the managements so that the Office the International of Museums, specialized organism of the Society of Nations with seat in Paris, acted immediately to save works in danger. But Jacques Avenol, Secretary General of the Society of Nations, in opposition to any intervention in the Spanish subjects, settled down with Sert, to which he united one narrow friendship to him, a plan of consisting of action causing, before the international preoccupation by the luck that could run Spanish works of art, a request of intervention in the north of Catalonia on the part of the cultural forces of democratic Europe, later to urge to them to act, thus leaving out of danger the responsibility of the Society of Nations.
After the managements of Sert before the most important European museums, the Committee arose the International for the Rescue from the Spanish Treasures of Art; it was made up of personalities that directed in their respective diverse countries artistic organisms, the adherent patronages of museums or museums. The president of the Committee was the David-Weill French, as well president of the Council of the National Museums; by French part they also were Henri Verne, Director of the Museum of the Louvre, and Albert Henraux, president of the Association of Friends of the Louvre; of British part, the Tate Gallery and also was in favor the Society of the Museums of Geneva, the Rijksmuseum, the Real Museums of Beautiful Arts of Belgium and the Metropolitan Museum of New York, as well as other conservatives of museums or simple lovers of the art whom they preferred to keep his anonymity.
The committee the International tried itself of deprived character, made up of its members for a reason or purpose individual, that acted to the margin of the governments and that went to the particular subscriptions of its components to be able to support the rescue company that seted out; nevertheless, it counted on the officious support of the governments and on the bottoms of the Museum of the Louvre. These contributions, simultaneously public and deprived, demonstrated the true character of the new organism.
She was not an international organization when not being constituted by States, but, at the same time, the fact that their members were directors of dependent organisms of the Administration, gave certain semi-official category him, to which the personal support of the Secretary General of the Society of Nations was added. These elements granted to capacity of performance and sufficient guarantee to him of neutrality, without jeopardizing with it their respective governments.
Both delegates of the Committee the International, the French Jacques Jaujard and the Briton Neil MacLaren, traveled until the north of Catalonia and made contact with enemy with the Dr Juan Negrín, President of the Government, and Julio the Alvarez of the Vayo, Minister of State, who counted on the legal advising of Miguel A. Marín and technician of Timoteo Blond Perez. The negotiations to obtain the authorization for the evacuation of works were arduous and difficult, being developed throughout three consecutive interviews in the days 2 and 3 of February, being two main points those that centered the republican preoccupation: the return of works once finished to the war and the guarantees so that they were not object of embargo in his transfer to the foreigner.
Finally, the Agreement of Figueras was signed at dusk of the day 3 by Jaujard and Alvarez of the Vayo, acting like witnesses MacLaren, Marín and Blond Perez. The evacuation of art works began that same night and finalized day 9, with the interruption of days 6 and 7, due to the nationalistic bombing that got worse on the zone. In these four days, by the passages of Him Perthus, Cerbere and Them Illes, crossed the French border seventy and trucks loaded and drived by the republican forces, directed to the evacuation by the people in charge of the Central Meeting of the Artistic Treasure with the collaboration of the members of the Committee the International.
The conditions could not be more adverse, the saturation of the highways by the exodus of the fugitive ones, the trucks, automobiles and material military, the closing from borders to the combatants, the intense cold and the cut of the telephone communications. But of all the problems that it had to confront the evacuation, most serious it constituted the systematic bombing of the Cóndor Legion, Italian Legionary Aviation and nationalistic aviation on the populations where were the deposits of the artistic treasure, as well as on the highways. In spite of insistent telegrams of Sert, sent by the Duke of Dawn to general Jordana, soliciing the aerial breakdown of an attack and communicating the zone of the evacuation to respect, them receipt requested of the Minister of Outer Subjects nationalistic and the guarantees of the halting of he himself, the bombing continued without interruption.
Nothing could justify to the Government of Towns by that systematic attack that to point was to make jump by airs most important of our artistic patrimony and seeded the death in a desperate population that fled disarmed and; attack that responded, like in Guernica in 1937, to the denominated “total war” in which it was not different between combatants and civil populace, and, in this case, added the top priority granted to the advance of the forces although it supposed to put in serious danger to the artistic patrimony of the nation.
It would be impossible to narrate here all the ups and downs that the truck drivers and organizers had to confront to take to good port their assignment. Happily, and in spite of the terrible pointed conditions, the result of the evacuation was in the main positive, because most important of the stored artistic treasure in the north of Catalonia it crossed the border, from where was sent to the deposits that the Committee the International had prepared in two near populations. Finally, the 12 of February, a special train, carefully guarded by gendarmes French, at dusk left from Perpiñán transporting the precious treasure, arriving at Geneva of the following day. The Swiss customs could register, before its deposit in the Palace of the Nations, the total of the shipment: 1,868 boxes and a weight of 139,890 kilograms.
From the deposit of works in Geneva to their repatriation seven months and means passed, during which numerous events changed the political and legal situation of the evacuated artistic treasure: the irruption in the Genevan scene of the delegates of Franc, Eugene d' Ors, National Head of Beautiful Arts, and Jose Maria Sert, causing a serious confrontation with the members of the republican Central Meeting; the inventory of works by a committee of experts, designated by the Committee the International, in which they could verify the good state of same and the care applied by the republican people in charge in the packing and transports. Inventory that would be unfinished by the obstruction of the carried out task by the nationalists with the objective to urgently remove works from the seat of the Society of Nations. Before the harassment nationalistic, the 30 of April, Avenol gave works of art to the ambassador of Franc in Bern.
Parallelly the Swiss request took place to celebrate a exhibition with the most important works and the concession of the same one, that was celebrated, of June to August, with an unusual success of international public in those months of the world war in a loaded Europe of sinister auguries. Alvarez de Sotomayor, named Director of the Prado and organizer of the exhibition, would recall it like “the period more glorious than she has had the museum of the Prado”, simultaneously who described the immense” and “magnificent” achieveed success as “.
Finally, the forced adventure ended the precipitated one returned to Spain of works in the beginnings of II the World war. A work developed throughout three years and that supposed the rescue, protection and evacuation of most important of the Spanish artistic patrimony could not even be work of a single person and of few. All the members of the Meetings of the Treasure - intellectual and artists, technicians and soldiers and of the Committee the International that took part in February of 1939, deserve to be remembered like participants in the greater company of artistic rescue of history.
To remember this company, maintaining lives its memory, will be the first step to pay our debt with all of them. |
