The initiative had been active on the Change.org platform for two months and called for compliance with the court ruling ordering the return of the works. The campaign pointed out that the legal deadline for the Generalitat of Catalonia to hand over the 97 assets to the Government of Aragon had already expired and that, up to that point, only 53 had been returned.
The arguments presented also included the Aragonese government’s accusation that a large part of the pieces had been sold without allowing it to exercise its right of first refusal so they could remain in Aragonese territory. The petition described the operation as a “fraud against Aragonese heritage.”
The campaign also argued that the Government of Aragon and Villanueva de Sijena Town Council should not be forced “for a third time” to request police intervention to recover the assets. Their request was addressed to the Generalitat’s then Culture Minister, Santi Vila, whom they called on to comply with the court’s ruling.
CHA thanked the more than 10,000 people who had signed the petition and said the figure reflected the social support in the region for defending its historical and artistic heritage. CHA’s then secretary general, Carmen Martínez Romances, said that “we must continue demanding” the return of the pieces.
The more than 10,000 signatures and the demand to recover all the assets were at the center of that report on Sijena’s heritage. This is how Aragón Digital covered it 10 years ago, in the original story about the campaign demanding the return of the works to Aragon.
