The Spanish Ministry of Culture plans to return over 5,000 artworks seized by dictator Franco after the Spanish Civil War to their rightful heirs. An online list of more than 5,126 items, including paintings, sculptures, jewelry, tableware, and religious ornaments, has been published for claimants to apply for their return.
Most of the items were collected by the Republican government in the 1930s and stored safely during the civil war, with the intention of returning them post-war. However, when Franco won in 1939, he placed many works in museums and institutions, unwilling to return them to the owners.
On Thursday, Minister Ernest Urtasun ceremonially returned the first artwork, a portrait of Spanish educator and philosopher Francisco Giner de los Ríos, at the National Library of Spain in Madrid. The painting, taken by the Franco regime in 1940, was returned to a foundation dedicated to preserving the legacy of an educational institution co-founded by Giner de los Ríos.
The foundation’s president described the painting’s return as “proof that dreams can come true and that some battles can be won.”
Source: NOS