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Background
During the so-called march on Madrid that took place over the summer of 1936, the rebel troops fought in Toledo, where the "El sitio de Alcazar" was stopped. After the battle of Toledo, General Varela's troops headed for Madrid. The situation alarmed many conservatives and artists, people feared that there would be uncontrolled situations in the big cities. -
The Junta without name
In order to control the heritage, a "Junta" was created on June 23, 1936 without a name and without financial endowment. It was made up of the General Director of Fine Arts, Ricardo de Orueta, and seven members, members of the Alliance of Anti-Fascist Intellectuals. -
Junta de Embargo y Protección del Patrimonio Artístico,
On August 1, 1936, the name came, Junta de Embargo y Protección del Patrimonio Artístico, now with economic endowment, Its purpose was to seize and preserve in the name of the State "all works, furniture or real estate, of an artistic, historical or bibliographical interest, which, due to the present abnormal circumstances, present, in his opinion, danger of ruin, loss or deterioration”. -
The Museum was closed
El Museo del Prado was closed the 30th of August of 1936 due to the attack in Madrid. -
Planning
Before the transportation of the artworks, they did a planning. The transferation corresponded to the Board for the Defense of the National Artistic Treasure and its main managers were Josep Renau, a young poster artist and publicist, appointed General Director of Fine Arts in September 1936, and the architect Vaamonde. As well they had to do a selection of which artwork they would have to take, there were 2000 artwork in total, from which 361 where from the Museo del Prado. -
First evacuation order
During the Battle of the University of Madrid, many aerial and artillery bombardments caused damage inside the city, some of which affected the Prado Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the San Fernando Academy. It was then that on November 5, 1936, the first evacuation order was sent to the deputy director of the Sánchez Cantón Museum. They decided to evacuate the at once -
Journey to Valencia
In the fall of 1936, around 2,000 works of art were transferred due to the Civil War. Military trucks were used, although some part of the route had to be done by foot to not damage the art. In Valencia, they were given to the Dirección General de Bellas Artes works and the were deposited in the Torres de Serranos and in the Iglesia del Patriarca, both buildings were protected with special structures against possible bombardments. -
To the underground...
From Valencia the works moved towards Peralada and Darnius until they reached the Negrín Mine. There the works were buried 250 meters deep in the mines which were owned by the Giralt Canta brothers and incubated by the Government of the Republic in 1937. Besides some of the works were previously found in the Peralada Castle and the Figueras Fortress. -
The League of Nations
The President of the Republic, Azaña, feared that the works would be destroyed because they were underground. For this reason, the Government of the Republic and the League of Nations signed an agreement on February 3, 1939 in the castle of Sant Ferran in Figueres. This agreement signed by Julio Álvarez del Vayo and J. Jaugard and has nine important points, among them that all the works would be returned. -
From Perpignan to Geneva
On March 12, 1939, the museum's works were transferred from Perpignan to Geneva on a special train that ran through part of France. -
The end of the Civil War
Finally, after 3 years of war the civil war was over which meant that the artwork could return. -
Exhibition in Geneva
Before returning to Spain in September 1939 there was an exhibition of the works in Geneva, which gets a tremendous public success. It had around 400,000 visits.
(The day and month aren't accurate, but if I didn't put them the timeline didn't work as I wanted, I'm so sorry) -
Back to Home
Three weeks after the Spanish Civil War ended, Josep Maria Sert, a Catalan muralist, demanded the leaders of the League of Nations that the artworks from "El Museo del Prado" were brought back to Spain. On September 6 a train with the work of art goes from Ginevra to the Museo del Prado.