A new episode in the judicial saga of the Pazo de Meirás, the Galician palace which was once the summer retreat of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The dictator's heirs, forced to return the nineteenth century mansion to the state after a court ruling in September, are now disputing possession of the building's contents. This Tuesday they filed an appeal against an order issued by an A Coruña court, that the Spanish state should provisionally take possession of all the chattels which the Pazo de Meirás contains, until a final judgment is made. The palace contains many items of great historical and artistic value.
The Franco family are demanding, through a 38-page legal submission that the interim ruling on the contents of the palace be "fully revoked", with costs imposed on the plaintiff as well as compensation paid to the family for "damages suffered" due to the ruling.
Keys to the Pazo de Meirás photographed on December 10th, when the building was returned to the Spanish state / Europa Press
Ever since the family was forced by a court ruling to hand over the keys to the Pazo, after 82 years during which the Francos had made use of the property, they have argued that the chattels, furniture and elements inside were theirs and that, if it came to it, they would be willing to sell them at a "reasonable price." Among other arguments, the Franco heirs state that the house's chattels are not "physically annexed to the property which is the subject of the dispute" and add that "therefore, in no way do they constitute integral parts or material components" of the Pazo.
In addition, they state that the state's case in the original litigation was not focused on "the Pazo de Meirás understood as a unit, but a specific cadastral plot which, in turn, corresponds to fifteen estates" defined in the property register.
The Francos accuse the state of impropriety
Among other issues, the submission from the Franco family argues that the interim measures which were requested by the state are not only "improper", but also represent the assertion of "a claim, custody and a judicial pronouncement which has not been and cannot be the subject of the present proceedings".
As well, the Franco family's legal document maintains that references to "elements, components or aspects" of the property, which is declared an Asset of Cultural Interest, "are limited, exclusively and necessarily, to those that make up, constitute and form the property itself and not the movable chattels inside."
The argument also questions, among other things, the inventory made by a National Heritage specialist, considering that it became "a kind of expert report focused on the ownership or property of the assets to be inventoried." In fact, the Francos unsuccessfully requested that this inventory be destroyed.
What does the Pazo contain?
In the palace are items of great historical and artistic value, which were illegally acquired during the dictatorship or which Franco obtained thanks to his position as dictator. Statues, glassware, tapestries, furniture, paintings by Álvarez de Sotomayor and Zuloaga... a patrimony of incalculable value.
The Pazo de Meirás, located in Sada, near the city of A Coruña, was stolen by the Francoist authorities from the family of the famous Galician writer Emilia Pardo Bazán, its original owner, who had had it constructed in 1893. Franco's family acquired the palace and used it for more than 80 years as their summer residence.
An attempt to put the property on sale in 2018 raised controversy about the real ownership status of the palace. On 2nd September this year, the High Court of Galicia ruled that the palace was the property of the state.
Main photo: Pazo de Meirás, on the day of the handover of the keys / Europa Press