Ten days before their public display, the Prophets of the Colonnade of Glory, plundered by Franco 75 years ago, returned to Santiago. Isaac and Abraham or Jeremias and Ezequiel, the statues attributed to Mestre Mateo are already in the Museo do Popo Gallego, where all visitors can see them starting from the following 11th.
Mayor Goretti Sanmartín, who came to greet them on Monday afternoon, chose the recent 50th anniversary of the dictator’s death – to announce his return. He did so after Franco’s heirs accepted without discussion a Supreme Court ruling that in June overturned two previous “disgraceful” rulings that denied the city’s legitimate claims. The same family was responsible for paying the cost of transporting the sculptures from Paso de Miras, amounting to 4,350 euros.
Now, the local government is setting up a “large open exhibition” to display the two statues at the Museo do Popo Gallego headquarters, where the 14th-century statue acquired by the Compostela City Council in 1948 was already waiting for them, along with figures of the prophets.