I know of no more difficult task than that of achieving objectivity in the presentation of facts in times of war and dictatorship. Someone has said that the first victim in war is the truth! Certainly, Our Spain, Republican Spain, has been fighting since the very beginning of the war, not only for its independence, but also to revive the truth that our enemies have been careful to submerge in a thick cloud of poisonous gases: lies.

Propaganda has played, and still plays, in our war, a very important role, and propaganda for foreign consumption has been greatly developed against us by the rebels and in terms quite alien to those of lawful political argumentation.

The rebels and their allies, Africans, Germans, and Italians are fighting against a liberal, democratic Republic, founded on principles directly inspired by those that constitute the A B C of most Western democracies.

Genuinely, political arguments are therefore of no use to the propaganda of the rebels, and they have deliberately adopted another line: to avoid the political discussion which would be difficult for them, they have flooded the world with gruesome novels about the atrocities of the “commies”: virgins raped, monks and priests burned alive, monasteries burned, monasteries pillaged, our art treasures sold, the masterpieces of the Prado Museum handed over to Russia, and our art treasures sold to the Russian army.

How far is the truth in these stories spread without measure in the world press by the rebel propagandists and their Tartan Moorish and Italian allies?

It is my purpose to submit to your consideration some facts, some figures, so that you may know to some extent the importance of the work that has been done in Spain, during the war, for the salvation of its artistic treasure. 

This work has occupied all my hours in Madrid, without a break, from the first days of July 1936 until the beginning of May 1938, when I was called to Barcelona by the Directorate of Fine Arts to collaborate in the solution of some problems related to our artistic heritage.

I believe that two years of unceasing work authorise me to provide details that may be of interest to those who wish to know about the measures adopted by our government for the protection of Culture and Art.

I aspire to make the truth known; I consider it my duty as a civilised European to contribute to the discussion of the measures we have taken to deal with the problem that has arisen before us.

That problem, or so many problems, which in many cases arose for the first time in history may one day become a bitter reality, in a more bitter reality for other countries....

This new war of Independence of Spain is for the dictatorships a rehearsal of the one they are preparing the way against the world.

I wish in the name of Art, of Culture - of all the ideals which make life desirable - to offer to men who may one day be obliged to face conditions like those with which we are confronted, I consider it a duty of a civilised European - let me repeat - to communicate to those men some of our dramatic experiences.

I hope, I hope with all my heart, that these beautiful northern countries will not be caught unawares, should war break out, as unprepared as our government by the uprising of July 17, 1936.

Troops that should have been employed for the defence of the legal authority fought against the government on the side of the Moors and the foreign legion. Our government had no choice but to surrender the weapons available to the people in order not to submit passively to the rebel generals - who, by the way, had also secured the blessings of Bishops and other ecclesiastical authorities....

Inevitably some of those weapons fell into the hands of irresponsible elements, in many cases mere bandits, who formed groups whose subjugation was a very arduous task in the early days, a task which the Government was nevertheless able to carry out.

In fact, these elements, these outlaws, were the most efficient collaborators of the rebels, for they constituted a dangerous front of struggle behind the backs of our troops, that is to say of our militias. .... But, as Kipling would have said:  

“that is another story”....

At eleven o'clock at night on 17 July 1936, a truck loaded with legionnaires occupied the Larache Post Office in Spanish Morocco. It was the beginning of the insurrection. On the 19th the insurrection broke out in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Toledo, Tarragona, Burgos, Valladolid, and in other towns where there were military garrisons.

Soon the improvised militias of the people besieged the mutineers in their barracks. Only two days were needed in Barcelona, three in Toledo to subdue the rebels.

In Madrid General Fanjul and the officers and troops resisting in the "Cuartel de la montaña" - one of the largest in Madrid - surrendered on the 20th.

Madrid surrendered on the 20th.

Well, on 23 July, that is, only six days after the start of the movement, the Gazette published a decree creating the "Junta de Protección del Tesoro Artístico Nacional" (Board for the protection of the National Artistic Treasure) in the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, that is, the body charged with this task.

The Board, which at first consisted of five members, had the authority to appoint auxiliaries. With astonishing speed, artists, architects, professors, writers, including six female assistants, were grouped together, and with the same rapidity the Junta extended its purpose to the provinces by appointing "Juntas Delegadas" (Delegate Boards).

The official decree clearly stated the powers of the Board to "seize, in the name of the state on a provisional basis, all artistic property, in order to protect it from the risks of war; everything of historical, artistic or archaeological value.

Under this criterion, absolutely everything collected, no matter how insignificant, was marked with a label stating its provenance, the name of the owner, and was carefully catalogued and inventoried. 

The work of cataloguing was entrusted from the beginning to the most qualified specialists who, according to their respective specialities, proceeded to classify books, manuscripts, sculptures, paintings, gold and silver objects, watches, ceramics, tapestries, weapons and armour, etc...

The members of the board, distributed in different groups, were provided with a car and a lorry for their work, and each group was made up of three or four people, including an archaeologist.

The difficult problem of transport - trucks and automobiles are of incalculable value in war - was solved with the help of the political groups and the trade unions, and in a short time the Junta had at its disposal in Madrid four passenger cars and four vans, and trucks were also provided by the air force and by the carabinieri, specially equipped vehicles, as well as those supplied by the "Ministry of War and protected by the motorised forces of the Police. Petrol, even on the most difficult days, was supplied by the War Ministry by means of special vouchers, so that transport and the unceasing work were uninterrupted.

Very soon the problem of storage became difficult.

At first it was considered that the museums would be the safest places, so it was decided to store the paintings at the Prado, with the exception of the modern art works, which were stored at the Museum of Modern Art. Books, manuscripts and archives were taken to the Biblioteca Nacional and the Archivo Histórico Nacional (National Library and the National Historical Archive), while sculptures, ceramics, tapestries, armour, clocks, lamps, furniture, etc. were stored in the large-capacity Church of San Francisco el Grande, where there were secure cellars.

Many foreign visitors have been in Spain during the war. They have unanimously acknowledged that nothing was ever withheld from their curiosity or their questions. They were taken where they asked to go and shown everything they asked to see.

These visitors visited our museums and our repositories, and if the sight of so many objects and works of poor or secondary quality stored in museums and churches was sometimes tiring, they had at the same time the opportunity to appreciate the extent of the work we were doing, and the respect shown by the Spanish people for the relics of the past.

It seemed to them almost miraculous, as Sir Frederic Kenyon, former Director of the British Museum, wrote, that "such a quantity of valuable objects has escaped the dangers of looting and destruction. That such a quantity of treasure should have escaped unscathed first a short period of chaos; then firebombing and bombing attacks".

As soon as the war began, the directors of the museums took the necessary measures to prevent possible damage. In the Prado, the Museum of Modern Art, the Archaeological Museum, the gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts and the National Library, everything was moved to the lower floors and basements; the safest places were chosen for the masterpieces and the most valuable and rare books, while sandbags were placed in places where it was not possible to move the objects.

Two large rooms in the Archaeological Museum were used to provide wooden platforms three storeys high, forming a solid scaffolding to strengthen the strength of the roof structure, while at the same time providing more space for storage.

Fortunately, when the great bombardments began over Madrid, all the museums were in the safest places.

The work was organised, then, with the criterion of concentrating everything in the smallest possible number of depots, with sufficient protection against possible and accidental damage - though this was hardly possible - against deliberate and prolonged bombardment and against unforeseen conditions.

Here are some figures and details concerning the Madrid Board, which had been reorganised since November 1936, when the Government left Madrid, and which was constituted as follows:

An art critic.

Two professors from the School of Arts and Crafts in Madrid.

Two professors from the San Fernando School.

Five professors from the University of Madrid.

Four architects, two of them from the department of conservation and restoration of ancient monuments.

Five archaeologists, specialising in: archaeology, furniture, books, parchments, etc., including a woman specialising in bookbinding.

Three female secondary school teachers, one of whom is an art history teacher, two of whom are drawing teachers.

Two typists.

Also dependent on the Junta, they worked:

Three professors at the Archaeological Museum

Four at the National Historical Archive

Twenty-five at the National Library.

We also had eighty-five subordinates from the museums.

Three photographers were also employed.

The board was made up of 151 people, 24 of whom were women, and the work was carried out as efficiently as possible.

Some figures give an idea of the work.

Paintings collected and catalogued up to March 1938: 20,000.

Sculptures and ceramics: 12,000.

Furniture: 2,000.

Books and manuscripts: about one million.

Church archives: 24. Of the 25 parish archives

The Madrid archives were saved 22.

The average daily cataloguing, up to 27 January, according to statistics, was

according to statistics :

Paintings: 30

Ceramic sculptures 37.

Furniture: 65.

Books: 400.

Archive files: 32.

Among the paintings catalogued, not belonging to museums, were: 32 Greco, 15 Zurbaran, 55 Goya, 9 Titian, 6 Tintoretto, 35 Giordano, 2 Van der Weiden, 1 Quentin Metsin, 1 Quentin Metsin, 1 Titian, 6 Tintoretto, 35 Giordano, 2 Van der Weiden, 1 Quentin Metsys, (one of his masterpieces).

We could say that, for the first time in history, an inventory of the artistic wealth held by private individuals has begun to be made. This inventory was carried out by the most competent specialists.

All the museums in Madrid were under the direct control of the Junta. The restorers of the Prado proceeded to clean and, where necessary, to restore and consolidate paintings that had been damaged by fire or, more frequently, by their long residence in dark and damp places in churches and monasteries. I must say that all museums, public libraries and in general all national art collections were respected.

The Junta also had two workshops at its service: one made up of students from the School of Fine Arts who painted hundreds of posters inviting the people to respect and conserve their art heritage; they worked during the day and then they themselves worked on the posters.

The other workshop was staffed by photographers and photographers from the school of Fine Arts.

In the other workshop worked the photographers who, with the help of the specialists, took pictures of everything that was considered of interest for further research. In March 1938, the archives of this workshop had reached a number of 2,000 photographic files; paintings, sculptures, ceramic pieces, documents, etc., in general of everything of exceptional interest and of works unknown until then.

When I was asked by General Miaja to vacate the Church of San Francisco, due to military needs-it was located some eight hundred metres from the enemy lines, where with a periscope the presence of the African troops could be seen, the enormous task of moving nearly 100,000 objects of all kinds (among them some gala carriages) to safer places, the task was carried out with astonishing speed, demanded also by the urgency imposed by the military command. However, the work of storing and cataloguing everything that was constantly arriving at the junta was not abandoned.

Madrid was the first European city to be subjected to large-scale aerial bombing.

On 29 August, Franco's airmen dropped the first bombs. On 23 October at nine o'clock in the morning the capital was attacked by the first squadron of German Junker planes, which from then on continued until they became almost familiar to the people of Madrid. On the 29th of October, 14 bombs were dropped; on the 30th of the same month, shortly after dark, the general air and ground offensive began.

In November Madrid was subjected to a fierce bombardment for 28 days almost without interruption.

In addition to the air attacks, the bombardment by German heavy artillery began on the 8th.

There were days when the bombing relief commission received reports that 250 buildings of various kinds had suffered partial or total destruction.

It is impossible to account for the number of houses destroyed during the day on the 18th, the number of old people, children, men and women killed, burned, or blown to pieces by fire and explosives. In the early afternoon of that day, the 18th of November, Madrid appeared as if flooded by a sea of flames and smoke; that diabolical bombardment continued throughout the night.

When one compares the air battles of 1914-1918, with the battles fought by huge fleets of aircraft - sometimes 150, accompanied by fighter planes - the airmen of the First World War seem as romantic and remote as the Knights of the Round Table.

If one considers that the centre of Madrid was only a thirty-minute walk to the trenches, that buildings were being damaged daily by shells, that the Prado, the Library, the Museum of Modern Art, the Academy of Fine Arts, the Archaeological Museum, the Palace of the Duke of Alba were all firebombed, it must be admitted that the most sensible decision was to remove the objects and works of art from the capital.

It was not only storage problems that had to be solved, coal and electricity were not available, nor was it possible to replace the glass in the doors and windows, nor were the doors and windows destroyed, nor could we have such efficient sandbags; they were needed for military purposes; we were deprived of wood from the very beginning.

On 7 November the government left for Valencia. On the 10th the first lorry loaded with "Las Meninas" by Velazquez and the large equestrian portrait of Charles Vº by Titian left for the same city.

The evacuation plan was drawn up in detail; the decision was taken to take the most important masterpieces out of Madrid first, preferably those by Spanish masters. At the same time, a selection was made of tapestries, manuscript books and everything of importance for the history of Spanish culture and Spanish art.

All books and paintings were packed in reinforced boxes, perfectly wrapped inside the boxes. I can assure you that only five paintings were exceptionally packed without their frames. Precautions were also taken against the dangers of vibrations and shocks during transport. Photographs were taken of some of the paintings in order to observe any possible damage once they were in Valencia and, if necessary, they were repaired. Experience, however, led our specialists to the conclusion that it was preferable to remove the frames from the paintings and roll them in wooden cylinders as a better guarantee. This was only done at the beginning with El Greco's Saint Maurice, from the Escorial, and four large canvases by Goya, which, because of their excessive size, could not have passed over the bridge at Arganda, the iron bridge which prevented the passage of the Meninas - very difficult to carry.

The lorries in which the canvases were transported were very close to the line of fire during the dangerous days of the enemy offensive at Jarama.

The lorries in which the works of art were transported from Madrid were always in the care of one or two members of the Junta to monitor the speed of the journey, which would have been dangerous, and they also carried military protection.

The wooden paintings were kept in Madrid until adequate facilities were available in Valencia to avoid the dangers of humidity in the storage areas.

In Valencia, the “Torres de Serranos”, one of the entrances to the medieval city, were used for storage; the vaults had previously been reinforced with sandy concrete, which allowed for three storage areas. The interior doors were fitted with holes to prevent the effects of explosions - devices to regulate the temperature and the necessary ventilation will also be installed. Partial doors, made of iron and asbestos, were built.

The paintings which, because of their size, could not fit through the doors were taken to the Patriarch's Church where similar measures had been put in place.

The vicissitudes of the war made it necessary to look for safer places. ...The carefully prepared warehouses in Valencia were left empty and everything stored was moved to an old castle near Gerona, fitted out in the same way.

Although the Prado does not house the best works of art, it does not mean that the number of works of art is inferior.

In the best possible conditions, the paintings of secondary importance, coming from private collections, are deposited in the best possible conditions, as well as the armour of the National Palace and its library of about 250,000 volumes. In response to the campaign to discredit us, it has been said that it was not necessary to take the works out of Madrid, as there were suitable vaults available to keep them in the capital, especially those built in the deeper premises of the Bank of Spain.

These vaults were used but proved inadequate: the universally known Grecos de Illescas were deposited, perhaps unconsciously by the Mayor of Illescas who refused to hand them over to the Junta, and when they were examined a few weeks later they were found to be completely opened by a thick layer of mould. It should also be noted that the underground cellars without the necessary damp-proofing do not constitute a safe place for storage, and damp is at least as great a danger as a bomb.

The paintings and books from the Escorial were also taken to the Bank to be deposited in the deepest cellars they found. In practice it proved impossible to do so; neither the size of the doors nor the width of the stairs allowed the boxes to pass through.

The Madrid correspondent of the Times of London, on 23 August last, in an article giving detailed information about the measures taken, writes: "the controversy is of no value in the present circumstances, and both sides - Republicans and Fascists - would do better to put it aside and co-operate, as far as possible, in saving the common heritage of a glorious past".

We Republicans did not start the controversy. We have worked-we are still working-to tell the truth, to establish it, because it has been altered. With regard to our artistic wealth we have given the world all the information that has been asked of us; those who have read our reports, our pamphlets, know all about what is in the care of our government. What do they know or have asked about what is in Franco's possession?

Who has asked anything about the "Burial of Count Orgaz"... about the Grecos of Toledo?

Mr Kenyon, former director of the British Museum and Mr Mann, curator of the Wallace Gallery, who gave a report after their visit to Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona, where they were shown everything. Were they invited by Franco as they were invited by the Republican government to see in the fascist zone some organised salvage work? ....

To us who have devoted such exquisite care to the museums, collections and galleries of Madrid, who have shown everything to our visitors, without restriction and without exception, it is a surprising enigma to note that no one in the foreign press, or anywhere else, feels the anxiety that has been shown with what we have preserved with regard to what is in Franco's possession...and everyone knows that the Republic has mortgaged or alienated nothing - because it has not been obliged to do so - either from the body or the soul of Spain.

But these words are a digression provoked by the Times correspondent, who, at the end of his article asks: where is the vivid portrait of the Grand Duke of Alba, by the Titian? Is it still in some hiding-place, in Madrid, known only to its owner; has it been destroyed or is it preserved?", and adds:

“here lies an enigma of world interest as great as the reputation not only of the painter but also of the great general."......

Well, that enigma can be easily unravelled; in fact it was unravelled several months ago; I know that in the Times - he could not specify the time and date -something was published, by the first president of our Junta Carlos Montilla - about the Titian painting, something about the Rembrandt landscape, in the same collection of the Duke of Alba, something about some Italian paintings, a dubious quatrocentista Culler, a Palma Viejo, and other paintings....

When the communist militias occupied the Palace of LIBYA, property of the Duke of Alba, and under the auspices of the Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, Mr Barnés, opened the doors of the palace converted into a Museum, these paintings were not there... They were missing because the Duke, a descendant of a great Spanish General, who had good reason to know when the military insurrection would break out, had already taken good care to find a hiding place for his best paintings in a foreign embassy. So the Titian, and the other paintings in the Alba collection, were well protected and hidden under a foreign flag. The hiding place was known not only to Alba, but to our government.

Up to this point I have dealt with the constructive work of our Board; I would like to add a few considerations with regard to the losses suffered.

We have never made the slightest attempt to conceal the fact that there has been destruction, especially at the beginning of the war, and especially in churches and religious buildings.

Until 1935 the Church in Spain was one of the largest landowners in the country. In Spain the Church had such large sums invested in banking, industry and large industrial, commercial and shipping enterprises that in order to safeguard these material interests it was drawn into the daily intrigues of the political struggle. Clearly its political attitude has been dictated by these secular interests; and as a natural consequence of them the Spanish clergy has always followed an illiberal and anti-republican policy which has led it to adopt a belligerent attitude in the war. It is easy to understand that this attitude of the Spanish clergy has aroused violent anticlerical sentiments among the people, although the Spanish people are in large part religious, but in large part they are also anticlerical....

Church towers, in many cases, were used as strategic products during the first street fighting; from many of them the people were strafed at the beginning of the uprising.

The reaction was inevitable; the results were to be expected; some churches were burned down. But not all the people were happy with the destruction of what they soon learned to regard as their national heritage, and on many occasions the same irresponsible elements engaged in looting or arson would come into the Junta, even insignificant objects that they were already beginning to consider the property of the Nation, which they considered valuable without distinction.

Soon the forces and elements of order prevailed and the junta was able to take effective measures not only for protection but was assisted by almost everyone. In fact, it could be said that the Junta then began to work at the head of a general salvage movement.

Among the militias, trade unions and political organisations, rescue groups were formed which soon established contacts and discipline under official authority, and thus succeeded in collecting numerous items of all kinds scattered in abandoned rural churches.

It is safe to say that although some first-class monuments and artefacts have been severely damaged or destroyed, the proportions of the losses are smaller than might have been expected. In many cases, as in Catalonia, the destruction of altarpieces from the eighth and ninth centuries has led to the discovery of medieval wall paintings and altarpieces that were hidden by these inferior and later decorations. It is clear that the recovery of these pieces has been a clear gain. It is difficult to specify for the moment the amount of losses suffered, because the following figures for Catalonia can be applied to Madrid, Valencia and other provinces, and it is even possible that the final estimate will be more favourable.

In Catalonia, for example, the movable wealth (sculpture, works in gold and silver, tapestries, paintings, etc.) was distributed in very approximate figures, as follows:

The Museums own 50%

-totally saved

Cathedrals - 30% - almost total,

Private collections - 5% - almost total,

rural parish churches - 15% - saved. 

The total loss in Catalonia is therefore around 5% of the total Catalan heritage. These figures predate the invasion of Catalonia.

From November 1936, all our towns, villages and villages were subjected to almost daily bombardment.

The daily work continues for the Junta.

Our war can be regarded as a relentless experiment of international significance: modern methods and weapons and the most ruthless techniques are being employed.

It is already possible to draw some deductions in relation to the protection of spiritual values as values of international significance; inevitably one comes to a disconsolate conclusion.

Inevitably one comes to the dismaying conclusion that all measures that can be taken in time of war in connection with work such as that which has occupied us fall far short of the utopian; that there is no possible defence against deliberate attacks, even if the relevant and possible measures have been taken beforehand.

Even if international agreements were to be reached, it is impossible in modern warfare, to maintain as non-military targets historic cities.

Effective anti-aircraft artillery only forces aircraft to drop their loads from higher altitudes, and men choose their targets in the blind spirit of what war is: destruction. The world must see that care must be taken to safeguard spiritual values in order to defend them against destruction. But how can this ideal be achieved, and would it be possible to create an intermediate body for this purpose, and, if it were achieved, "or would such a body be as ineffective as the League of Nations has been in preventing war and blackmail?

I believe that the best work that can be done and must be done with ever greater faith and intensity is to work for PEACE.