It was about to be auctioned in Barcelona, but the Romanesque relief of ‘The Adoration of the Kings‘ from the 12th century that disappeared from the hermitage of San Pedro de Tejada will return to Burgos. The Civil Guard has recovered the piece that was once embedded in the upper part of the gospel side, in the presbytery of this small church located in the town of Puente-Arenas, in Merindad de Valdivielso, declared National Historical Artistic Monument in 1935.
The relief represents the Adoration of the Kings, with the figures arranged according to the traditional formula that is frequently repeated in Burgos Romanesque. The Virgin is seated with the Child, with the first king kneeling on the right offering his gift and behind him the second who turns to speak with the third, both standing.
The auction room specialized in the antiques sector detailed in its catalog the origin of the stone relief, making reference to the book ‘Romanesque architecture and sculpture in the province of Burgos’, by José Pérez Carmona, published in 1959.
Agents from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard investigated the origin of the relief and verified “without any doubt” that it had been “extracted from the hermitage after its declaration as a National Historical Monument», as they point out in a note. Also after José Pérez Carmona’s doctoral thesis on Romanesque architecture and sculpture in the province of Burgos, which was subsequently published.
The Adoration of the Kings was intervened precautionarily by order of the judge and transferred by the Historical Heritage Section of the UCO and personnel of the Burgos Museum from the city of Barcelona to the museum of the Castilian city itself. His study confirmed that “this relief is the same one that was found on the north wall of the presbytery of the hermitage of San Pedro de Tejada.”
The Civil Guard points out that, thanks to the “excellent collaboration” it maintains with different organizations specialized in the protection of cultural property, it has been possible to compile various historical documentation with information related to the investigation, which has made it possible to determine the origin of this piece. .
In this specific case, the Ministry of Culture has been involved through the General Administration Archive (AGA), the Archive of the Cultural Heritage Institute of Spain and the National Archaeological Museum; the Archive of the Provincial Council of Burgos, the Fernán González Institute of the Royal Burgense Academy of History and Fine Arts and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (RABASF).
#12thcentury #Romanesque #relief #stolen #hermitage #Burgos #recovered
