The Museo de Arte Colonial in Antigua, Guatemala, will reopen after a court-ordered raid shut it down in December 2025, forcing the relocation of its collection of 287 colonial-era works. After months of negotiations, Guatemala’s Ministry of Culture and Sports (MCD) regained control of the venue on 11 August. Yet a long road remains ahead, including restoring the 18th-century complex and its fragile works of art. A reopening date has yet to be announced.
The museum first opened in 1936 in the former Universidad de San Carlos, featuring colonial paintings and sculptures including works by the artists Tomás de Merlo (1694-1739) and Cristóbal de Villalpando (1649-1714).
“Guatemalan sculpture has distinctive qualities and was among the best known in the West Indies for centuries,” Johann Melchor, Antigua’s city-designated chronicler and a Guatemalan colonial art expert, tells The Art Newspaper. The site, however, has always faced conservation issues. “The museum suffered from 50 years of neglect, and many pieces needed restoration,” says Melchor, stressing the institution’s relevance to the city’s cultural fabric.
The city of Antigua owns the site, while the MCD had an operating agreement valid until 2032. The court’s decision late last year relied on a report by the Consejo Nacional para la Protección de la Antigua Guatemala (CNPAG), requested by Guatemala’s Public Ministry in May 2025, following an undisclosed complaint. The report, however, noted that only ten works were in urgent need of restoration and recommended this be carried out in situ. Despite objections, most works were relocated to the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura in Guatemala City in a hasty two-week operation.
Concern grew over six large-scale paintings, five by Merlo, which remained at the museum because of their fragility and were left unsupervised. Ultimately, on 25 February, the paintings were carried on foot to Antigua’s Museo de Arte de Guatemala, 200m away.
“The keys are back, and we will work hard so that the museum is back, too—and with it, a part of our history will come alive again,” said culture minister Luis Méndez Salinas at a 13 August inspection, noting that evaluations are ongoing to define next steps. New museography and temporary exhibition spaces are planned. But the collection’s return will be gradual, as many works still require restoration and remain in different venues.
The works’ eventual return will be complex. “We conducted a preliminary assessment of the collection,” says Javier Quiñónez, the CNPAG’s Antigua conservator. “But we ignored the works’ current state and whether they were damaged by changing the conditions in which they were kept for 50 years or during their transfer.” He adds that it is important to evaluate the works’ condition and clarify the venue’s legal status.
The physical museum space is also a concern. “The recovery of the collection must be addressed in parallel with that of the building,” says Jesús A. Castillo R., the CNPAG’s chief of immovable heritage restoration. He adds that preliminary inspections found peeling paint, dirt and humidity in the works—all of which requires individual assessment. “The museum’s architectural and environmental conditions are decisive in guaranteeing their conservation,” Castillo says.
Melchor, Quiñónez and Castillo all stress that funding and a long-term plan for the venue are paramount. “We hope there are better days ahead for the museum,” Melchor says.
