St George’s Hall in Palau de la Generalitat, Barcelona, will be partially restored to its original shape once the process of removing the graphic design added during the reign of Miguel Primo de Rivera is complete, according to the Catalan government’s website.
The work, which began on 2 May 2023, was completed in 16 months. Technicians and restorers removed oil paintings on the walls and part of the ceiling of the hall. It consisted of 24 large format paintings located on the side walls and 45 large format works below, which took a total of around 860m² of surface painting.
The project was based on restoring, as much as possible, the architecture of the master Pere Blay and its status as a Renaissance original, both in form and materials. For this reason, after the removal of the paintings, priority was given to the task of cleaning and restoring the original Renaissance artwork.
In 1932, when Josep Tarradellas, President of the Government of Catalonia, was Minister of the Interior, the seizure of some paintings from the national gallery El Saló de Sant Jordi (St George’s Hall) had already been initiated. However, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the process of recovery was halted and the seized paintings were returned to where they had been.
The decision to remove the paintings was made in 2019 in coordination with the Commission for the Study of the Pictorial Decoration of the Government Palace of Saló de Sant Jordi, created and chaired by President Joaquim Torra i Pla, also known as Quim Torra.
Another former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont shared Quim Torra’s post on X social media platform.
“Repair and beautify. The removal of the Spanish paintings from the Saló Sant Jordi in the Palau de la Generalitat gives us back a beautiful, bright and magnificent space. The work of Pere Blay recovered. Thanks to the Committee of Experts and the professionals who have made it possible.
