The Romanesque wall painting collection
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) – Barcelona
The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya houses one of the most important collections of Romanesque wall paintings in Europe, largely comprising ensembles originating from churches in the Catalan Pyrenees. Dating mainly from the 11th and 12th centuries, the paintings were detached from their original locations during the 20th century and transferred onto new supports to ensure their conservation. In the museum, they were subsequently installed within purpose-built architectural structures designed to recreate the original relationship between painting and space.
The particular material history of these works, marked by campaigns of detachment, transfers, remounting and subsequent restorations, makes the collection an important field of study for understanding Romanesque painting, its execution techniques and the history of conservation.
Since 2023, the Isabel und Balz Baechi Foundation, in collaboration with the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), has supported a programme of study and conservation dedicated to these painted ensembles, organised in different phases.
The conservation project
2023–2025 – Més Romànic
Within the Més Romànic project, the work focused on the study, restoration and repositioning of fragments belonging to some of the principal Romanesque ensembles preserved in the museum: Sant Climent de Taüll, Sant Pere del Burgal and Sant Joan de Boí.
The intervention was preceded by the study of historical documentation, the provenance of the fragments and the various interventions carried out over time, with the aim of reconstructing, as far as possible, their original location. The paintings then underwent the necessary conservation and restoration treatments.
Particular attention was devoted to the repositioning of the fragments, which involved the development and use of innovative, reversible solutions specifically devised in relation to the characteristics of the works and the different museum display structures.
The project thus made it possible to restore the relationship between the fragments, the architecture and their respective figurative cycles, improving the reading of the works while contributing to a deeper understanding of their complex conservation history.
2025–2026 – Santa Maria de Taüll: study for the conservation and restoration project
In 2025, the collaboration between the Foundation and the MNAC continued with a new project dedicated to the wall paintings of Santa Maria de Taüll, one of the largest and most complex ensembles of Catalan Romanesque art, dating to around 1123.
Between 2025 and 2026, the work focused on the historical and documentary reconstruction of the detachment campaigns and subsequent restorations, documentation of the state of conservation, photogrammetric surveys, and scientific investigations of the original materials and those introduced during previous interventions.
The study provided a scientific basis for defining future conservation and restoration criteria. The project is currently suspended, and the continuation of the studies is planned from 2030 onwards.
Collaborations
Supervision and project planning
Carme Ramells Cabrelles – Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC)
Paola Potenza – Isabel und Balz Baechi Foundation
Restoration
Paola Potenza – conservator-restorer, Isabel und Balz Baechi Foundation
Cristina Martí Robledo – conservator-restorer, MNAC
Carles Ribó Arnau – conservator-restorer, MNAC
Pere de Llobet Masachs – conservator-restorer, MNAC
Scientific analyses
Núria Oriols Pladevall – analysis and characterisation of materials, MNAC
Centres Científics i Tecnològics de la Universitat de Barcelona (CCiT-UB) – specialised and proteomic analyses of the materials of the Santa Maria de Taüll paintings
Press review and outreach
22 June 2024 – El País / Quadern – Pujar a Taüll: Una peregrinació moderna als orígens medievals de Catalunya – https://elpais.com/quadern/art-i-arquitectura/2024-06-22/pujar-a-taull-una-peregrinacio-moderna-als-origens-medievals-de-catalunya.html
30 October 2023 – VilaWeb – Operació romànic: el fascinant procés d’incorporació de fragments inèdits a tres conjunts d’art romànic del MNAC – https://www.vilaweb.cat/noticies/art-romanic-mnac-mes-romanic/
19 June 2023 – L’Avenç – Més Romànic al MNAC – https://www.lavenc.cat/noticia/35/romanic-al-mnac
2 June 2023 – La Vanguardia – Caín vuelve a la derecha de Dios – https://www.lavanguardia.com/cultura/20230602/9013249/cain-vuelve-derecha-dios.html
1 June 2023 – Europa Press – El MNAC completa la incorporación de la figura de Caín al ábside de Sant Climent de Taüll – https://www.europapress.es/catalunya/noticia-mnac-completa-incorporacion-figura-cain-abside-sant-climent-taull-20230601160419.html
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya – Més Romànic – Presentation of the research, conservation and enhancement programme for the Romanesque collection. – https://www.museunacional.cat/mesromanic/
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya – Operació romànic – In-depth presentation dedicated to the restoration and repositioning of the fragments. – https://www.museunacional.cat/mesromanic/es/528-2/operacion-romanico/
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya – Més Romànic International Congress – https://www.museunacional.cat/mesromanic/es/congreso-internacional/
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya – Més Romànic – Catalan page – MNAC page dedicated to the Més Romànic programme. – https://www.museunacional.cat/ca/mes-romanic