The pages that follow provide a brief summary of the long history of moves to which the Museum's collections of Romanesque mural painting have been subjected since they were removed from their original buildings. A sum­rnary in which we have wanted to take into account the large-scale moves as well as the individual journeys of what are sometimes rather sweepingly referred to as apses, a name which nevertheless also extends to other types of architectural constructions and volumes (naves, porches and other parts of religious con­structions). The central aim of this summary is to recall and contrast the interna[ and externa] rnoves that preceded what for the time being is the last move on occasion of their installation. in the new Romanesque Room at the Museu Nacional de Catalunya, inaugurated in December 1995. Over and above the purely technical side of the removals, we have thought it essential also to analyse the background and the factors that motivated them as well as the spirit that pre­vailed in their presentation and distribution in each of the different installati,ons. In this way, we shall see how the history of these moves is related, directly or otherwise, with the country's own cultural history and that of the institutions in which the collections have been housed. In short, we shall see how a ·significant part of the arguments betünd these moves are a conse­quence of decisions on cult.ural policy affecting Catalonia's heritage and museums, as well as the efforts of particular individuals. WilhouL for­getting, of coLLrse, 1he emblematic value of 1he series of mural paintings in 1he Museum's Romanesque colleclion, which are what makes it so special. The Background 10 and Origins of the Formation of the Collection of Mural Painting