An ancient Roman mosaic, known as the Roman Mosaic of Panxón, returned to the Spanish city of Nigrán after centuries and a long journey around the world. The municipal government of Nigrán is keeping the mosaic under lock and security measures in municipal premises until it is exhibited next month, according to EL PAÍS. The mosaic is now officially owned by the Nigrán City Council, following an official ceremony last Saturday at the Colnaghi gallery in Madrid—three years after its purchase was finalized.
The mosaic from the 3rd-century CE was discovered on a private estate during construction work before 1850. It had once adorned a room in a villa at O Castro de Panxón, a peninsula in Nigrán, in the Spanish region of Galicia, according to El Faro de Vigo. The Roman mosaic featured a marine scene with a mullet and a pair of clams rendered in colored tesserae.
With support from the local City Council, which contributed €40,000 ($41,650), and a crowdfunding campaign, the Association for the Repatriation of the Mosaic raised the necessary €58,000 ($60,000) in 2022 to purchase the piece. The mosaic will be exhibited in the plenary hall of Nigrán for two months as part of a museum project led by Árbore Arqueoloxía, accompanied by informative panels, photographs, and contextual pieces.
The last journey of the Roman mosaic from Panxón to its final destination lasted only one day, completing the final 372 miles of its journey. The circle was closed when workers from the specialized company World Pack-Art&Services unloaded it in two pieces: the legs of the table and the tabletop where the tesserae composition featuring a 67-centimeter-long fish is embedded, as reported by El Faro de Vigo.
Spanish lawyer Gonzalo Fernández-Turégano, an admirer of art, books, museums, and galleries, played a pivotal role in the mosaic's return. As a child, he was fascinated by history and art. He recalled being captivated by a black-and-white photograph of the Roman Mosaic of Panxón in a thick book on the history of the Vigo area, which he discovered at his aunt and uncle's house, according to EL PAÍS.
In 2018, Fernández-Turégano rediscovered the mosaic among the collection of Carlton Hobbs, an antique house in Upper East Side, Manhattan. "On a trip to New York, I met with Carlton Hobbs to see it. [The dealer] had no idea of the origin, although the then curator of Roman art at the Metropolitan Museum, Carlos Picón, had identified it as a Lusitanian mosaic from the 3rd century," he explained to EL PAÍS.
Fernández-Turégano partnered with a group of friends, family members, art experts, and Nigrán residents to establish the Association for the Repatriation of the Roman Mosaic of Panxón in 2021. The recovery process was slow and, at times, discouraging. "We faced a thousand difficulties. When we were setting up the association, the Covid-19 pandemic hit; the crowdfunding was slow; the seller agreed to deliver the mosaic in London, but Brexit introduced a new hurdle—import VAT to Spain. It took months to secure an exemption," recalled Fernández-Turégano.
Over the years, a series of accidental discoveries confirmed the area's Roman history: a pottery workshop, an altar dedicated to Mercury, and amphorae fished from the bay by local sailors. Between New Year's Eve 2022 and New Year's Eve 2023, while the Roman Mosaic of Panxón waited to travel from London, a storm caused part of the cliff to collapse, exposing hundreds of archaeological remains—grinding stones, pottery, bones, and building materials from two millennia ago. The first person to discover these artifacts and raise the alarm was Gustavo Pascual, an archaeologist, history teacher, and second vice-president of the Association for Repatriation.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq