Franco family auctions 689 objects removed from Pazo de Meirás in Madrid

A former summer residence

The Pazo de Meirás in Sada, A Coruña, was first designed by the writer Emilia Pardo Bazán, who worked with her mother on a mansion with three square, crenellated towers, granite facades and more than 2,100 square metres built. Inside are a grand staircase, libraries lined with dark wood and a chapel in a Romanesque style. The Torre de la Quimera held the writer's library, and gardens with magnolias and bamboo surround the house. From 1938 to 1975 the estate served as Francisco Franco's summer residence, and a 1941 purchase that the courts later declared simulated is at the centre of the long legal dispute over its ownership.

Courts return the building to the state

Justice recognised state ownership of the pazo in 2020, and the Supreme Court confirmed it in March 2026 after years of litigation with the Franco descendants. Reports describe the building as a 1938 gift to the dictator from a group of Galician notables, and the simulated 1941 sale is the basis for the property now belonging to the Spanish state. The rulings also settled which contents belonged to the public. In November 2024 a Madrid court recognised 559 items as public heritage because they were linked to the building's use as the official residence of the head of state.

Removal and the Madrid sale

The Franco family removed furniture and decorative objects from the pazo in summer 2026, although sources differ on the month, with one placing the removal in June and another in July. The items that were not on the 559-item public-heritage list were entrusted to Magna Art Auctions, which describes the sale as special and unique. The catalogue lists 689 lots, from furniture, porcelain, lamps and rugs to paintings, clocks and religious works. Starting prices run from 20 to 5,000 euros. Among the Francoist pieces are a chestnut armoire decorated with the eagle, yoke and arrows at a starting price of 700 euros, a tapestry bearing the Francoist coat of arms at 850 euros, and two portraits of Franco priced between 100 and 300 euros.

The auction house's catalogue text, written by its director José Miguel Carrillo de Albornoz, presents the collection as more than the sum of its objects, citing the house and the family that owned it.

“The set has a value that goes beyond the intrinsic value of the objects.”

Objections and buyer interest

The Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica (ARMH) called the sale a plunder of public goods and asked for a precautionary suspension of the auction, a request that did not succeed. Staff at the gallery report strong interest, with several bids placed before the sale opened. Buyers include older men as well as younger people who are not bidding but are drawn by what the auction represents.