It is spectacular and colourful - and very expensive in the midst of a global economic crisis. A new Spanishfunded €20m ceiling for the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva by Mallorcan artist Miquel Barceló was greeted this week with a mixture of effusive praise and angry denunciations in the Spanish parliament.

King Juan Carlos of Spain and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the country's Socialist prime minister - who attended the inauguration with Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general - welcomed the work as a sign of Spain's artistic prowess and a fittingly monumental backdrop for discussions on the future of humanity.