Council of Ministers have awarded nine museums, the Order of Arts, saving Spanish heritage in 1939

The government of the Republic, fearful that the bombardment from Franco planes would harm the treasuries of the Madrid gallery, ordered the evacuation of the most important works in November 1936 in Valencia.

The Council of Ministers have awarded nine museums, the Order of Arts, for their role in saving Spanish heritage in 1939.

They were awarded to the International Committee for the Rescue of Spanish art treasures, which prevented the destruction of works, from the Prado Museum, in 1939. The Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, presented the awards yesterday in Madrid, in an act that pays a historical debt to the international committee, but left again into oblivion the figure of the Catalan Miquel Àngel Marin, who was one of the architects of the so-called Agreement of Figueres, which allowed the saving of the best works from the Prado.

The government of the Republic, fearful that the bombardment from Franco planes would harm the treasuries of the Madrid gallery, ordered the evacuation of the most important works in November 1936 in Valencia. Later, as the war progressed, they were moved to Catalunya and hid in three bunkers near the border (Peralada castle, the castle of Sant Ferran de Figueres and the mine Song of the Vajol). One of the first to move was the painter Josep Maria Sert, who despite being on Franco's side was a well respected personality and a great friend of Joseph Avenol, secretary general of the League of Nations, who had been invited several times to his summer residence of Mas Juny, on the Costa Brava. They drove the creation of an international committee with the heads of the most important museums in the world, formed in late January 1939. In total 11 members, chaired by David Weil, president in turn of the Conseil des Musees Nationaux, and Jacques Jaujard, as secretary, and the presence of major museums (Louvre, Metropolitan, Tate, Rijksmuseum ...). The aim was to negotiate an agreement with the government of the Republic to move the works from the deposits in the Alt Empordà to a safe and neutral place like Geneva.

And there appears Miquel Àngel Marin, director of the Political Section of the Ministry and Diplomatic Adviser of the State and Minister Julio Alvarez del Vayo, who was required in Figueres as legal expert to draft the agreement. On 3 February 1939, an agreement was signed in Figueres by the government of the Republic who agreed to move the works to Geneva and agreed that once the war was over they were to be returned to the government.
After a cabinet meeting held in the castle of Sant Ferran de Figueres, between five and seven in the evening he held the final meeting between members of the international committee and the Republican government. Throughout the day the Italians had bombed Savoie Figueres and had succeeded in destroying the power plant of the city. In an article published in the journal History and Life, in 1988, Miquel À. Marin explained: "The wording had to be done outside the office, in the castle square, the light from the spotlights of an Opel car and a lamp operated manually by my friend and partner in the ministry Herrero Vicente Ayllon , while correcting my French. " At seven o'clock, is stamped on the document signed by the Minister Alvarez del Vayo and delegate of the international committee, Jacques Jaujard. À Miquel. Marin, Timoteo Perez Rubio (President of the Treasury Board and Artistic) and Neil Mac Laren (Officer of the National Gallery, London) Signed as witnesses.

Between 4 and February 9, 1939, 71 trucks crossed the border at El Pertús carrying the treasures of the Prado Museum. The great works of Velazquez, Goya, Murillo, Ribera and El Greco crossed the Pyrenees mixed with thousands of refugees fleeing Republicans in disarray before the air raids and Franco's Nationalist troops pressuring them at their heels. Those who were guarding the trucks had to deny passage to the fleeing refugees and sometimes force was necessary and rifles were used as they did not understand that strange packages on board the trucks had priority. On February 12, 1845 pieces (paintings, tapestries, sculptures) were loaded in a special train bound for Geneva.




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