‘Goya, from the museum to the palace’, the exhibition that the Cortes of Aragón plans to hold with works from the Museum of Zaragoza while it is under construction, It is delayed until next fall. The president of the Cortes of Aragon, Marta Fernández, and the Aragonese president, Jorge Azcón, signed this Thursday in the Aljafería the agreement that will make the exhibition possible and that will involve an investment of close to one million euros between both institutions. This is one more step in the project (it is already the third time it has been ‘presented’) with no major news other than the opening date. If in February it was thought that it could open in April, this morning Marta Fernández openly stated that “we hope it starts in the fall.” The difficulties have come when establishing the framework of the exhibition. The exhibition is to be held in the monumental area of the Aljafería, and housing Goya’s works there requires certain security facilities, temperature and ambient humidity control. Facilities whose location must be carefully studied because the building is an Asset of Cultural Interest and World Heritage and is highly protected externally and internally. Resolving this point is what has delayed the opening of the exhibition, which is the central axis of many other things.
To begin with, as Marta Fernández stressed this Thursday, it is the starting signal for the activities that Aragón is going to organize for commemorate the 200th anniversary of Goya’s death. So, from this autumn until 2029, initiatives around the painter from Fuendetodos will take place.
The Zaragoza Museum is going to give fifty works (by Goya and other contemporary artists) to the exhibition. In recent months, museum technicians have worked to vacate the entire upper floor, which is the one that will be the subject of the remodeling. Offices and works and valuable assets have been moved, suitably protected. But the architectural work, contrary to what it might seem, has not begun, apparently because the license has not yet been granted. Municipal sources assured yesterday that the City Council has received the executive project of the works, has not found any objection and has sent it to the Provincial Heritage Commission for evaluation. And there it is, awaiting your ruling.
The museum closed its doors on November 2 and, according to some sources, since the end of February everything has been ready for the operators to start working. Everything indicates, therefore, that The center will not reopen until 2026. The execution period of the works is 18 months, so, unless a small delay accumulates, in the beginning of the work, in its course, or in the subsequent adaptation of the spaces, it will not be opened. in December 2025, but will be in 2026. The official start of the bicentennial will be on April 16, 2028.
Meanwhile, work is already underway on the two centers dedicated to Goya that will be created in Plaza del Pilar. According to the general director of Culture, Pedro Olloqui, present at the signing of the agreement, the idea is “to have completed the preliminary draft and architectural project in the second part of this year. We are going to commission different studies, such as those on loads, to start working on the tender. Converting a courthouse into a museum is more complex than it may seem architecturally. The idea is that in the spring of 2025 we will have already requested the building permit.”
