On Tuesday, Spanish National Police and Mossos d’Esquadra, the regional police of Catalonia, announced that they had recovered a 16th century carved wooden relief that had been stolen from the Monastery of Santa Clara de Fitero in nearby Navarre 16 years prior.
Per a post by the National Police on social media, the relief had passed through multiple buyers before it was located at an auction house in Barcelona. Police recovered the piece before it could be sold again.
The relief, according to El Pais, is a gilded and polychromed wooden carving; while the creator is not known, it is said to be linked to the school of Renaissance era artist Juan de Anchieta. It depicts Saint Bonaventure, a medieval Italian theologian and Francsican leader. On Tuesday, the piece was returned to a church in the Navarreese town of Fitero, through the Archdiocese of Pamplona and Tudela, considered its rightful owner.
The relief was originally stolen in 2010 as part of a coordinated robbery of six hermitages, two churches, and the monastery in Navarre.
The recovery of the work was the result of a months-long investigation dubbed Operation Salvatierra, in which police traced the work through several buyers before arriving at the auction house in Barcelona. Police seized the piece from the auction house in April. The work originally reappeared for sale Madrid’s Sunday Rastro market.
