In early February 1939, seventy-one lorries were evacuated from northern Catalonia to France, the most important part of Spain’s artistic heritage. Among those thousands of works were about 600 pieces from the Prado Museum, among which were works by Velázquez, Goya, Ribera, Murillo. Dürer, Titian or Rubens, among others. They were led by republican forces, led by the evacuation by Timoteo Pérez Rubios and by members of the Central Board of the Artistic Treasury, with the collaboration of the members of the International Committee for the Rescue of the Spanish Art Treasures, constituted, at the request of the painter José María Sert, by the main museums of the democratic world. It was an unusual case of international solidarity between museums in the face of the serious danger suffered by the Spanish artistic heritage.

The bulk of the works would arrive in Madrid in June 1939 with the exception of 174 works of the Prado and 21 tapestries of National Heritage with which the Francoists organized an exhibition in Geneva that achieved great success. A few hours after the closure of this exhibition, the Second World War broke out. The train that returned the works to Spain traveled along the French roads with the lights off to avoid a possible German attack. They arrived in Madrid on September 2, 1939.

The Congress wants to promote research, debate and contributions on the museum and heritage in case of war conflict. It counts, as special guests, with people descended from those responsible for the rescue of the Prado Museum and the Spanish heritage during the war and the post-war period. Among them are Carlos Pérez Chacel, son of Timoteo Pérez Rubio, Francisco de Sert and María del Mar Arnús, José María Ballester, art critic and nephew and collaborator of the Marquis of Lozoya, Ana María Macarrón Miguel, Mauricio Macarrón Larrumbe and Tira Gil Macarrón, and Rafael Seco de Arpe and Fernando Seco de Arpe.

Cristina Latorre, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice and President of the Interministerial Commission for the Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Spanish Republican Exile, participates in the inauguration of the Congress.