Our hotel in Sevilla sure had been festively decorated for Christmas!
One of the very appealing murals we saw throughout Sevilla:
Not all the images were of La Macarena but of some other female saints.
The carving on the choir stalls was very striking but looked like they would be exceedingly uncomfortable to sit on with the protruding pieces up against one's back. Plus, the half-human and half-animal visages seemed very scary looking.
In the town we left just the day before, Arcos de la Frontera, we'd seen saints' 'incorrupt bodies' in a couple of churches but had been spared paintings of severed heads of the martyrs, Sts. Paul and John the Baptist! The sign next to the paintings indicated "the technique of these paintings is magnificent ... and in the rendering of the dramatic countenances of both martyrs."
Since we had several days to explore Sevilla, we didn't have to rush out as early as we normally do. Our first stop was at the Basilica de la Macarena to find out more about the city's Holy Week's celebrations which are regarded as Spain's finest. According to travel writer Rick Steves, during the week leading up to Easter, the city is packed with pilgrims who come to enjoy 60 processions carrying about 100 religious floats. As we had missed that incredible sight, the next best thing was to visit the basilica and its museum.
The church was only built in 1949 to provide a permanent home for the most favorite statue carried through the streets during Holy Week, the Virgen de la Macarena.
It was heartwarming to see the constant parade of people coming into pray and not just tourists like us taking pictures of its famous sight. The church wasn't large but what was there was an absolute feast for our eyes.
La Macarena is known as the Weeping Virgin for the five crystal teardrops trickling down her cheeks. Sculpted in the late 17th century, she looked like a Baroque doll with human hair, movable arms and even dressed in undergarments though I couldn't verify the latter fact! La Macarena is also known as La Esperanza, the Virgin of Hope, promising better times.
Steves described La Macarena's visage far better than I ever could: "Her beautiful expression - halfway between smiling and crying - is ambiguous, letting worshippers project their own emotion onto her."
When I realized she was the patron saint of matadors and a favorite of Spain's gypsies, it wasn't surprising to learn the Sevilla-born matador Joselito was so taken with her that he spent a good chunk of his wealth to purchase four emeralds for her. When he died in the ring in 1920, the Macarena wore widow's weeds for a month! The statue of Mary was one of the most moving statues we have ever seen in any church around the globe.
Just to the left of the Weeping Virgin was a side chapel with the 1694 statue of Christ of the Judgement which showed him on the day he was condemned. It and La Macarena stand atop the two most important floats in Sevilla's Holy Week parade.
Another stunning altar:
Another delight of the basilica was its three-floor Tesoro or Treasury Museum which told the story of the Virgin statue and the Holy Week parades. Though they began in medieval times, the current traditions started with the formation of brotherhoods in 1600 who demonstrate during Holy Week their dedication to God by parading religious floats to reenact the story of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. Here were displays of ceremonial banners and scepters.
I was gobsmacked by the ornateness and the overwhelming amount of gold on this float, thinking initially surely this had to be the one for either La Macarena or the Christ statue. But no, it was 'just' for the 18th century Virgen del Rosario float!
The velvet and gold thread cloak was beyond gorgeous. Thank goodness no one had to wear it as it looked extraordinarily heavy.
Watching videos of the parades made all the hoopla surrounding the seemed more real.
The map showed the extensive route the parade takes every Good Friday through Sevilla.
Even I was left speechless gazing in awe at the three-ton float that carries the Christ of the Judgement statue we'd just seen in the basilica. There was so much detail it was so hard to take it all in and know where to look first to fully appreciate the many figures acting out the sentencing of Jesus.
I think this image showed Pontius Pilate about to wash his hands.
This showed a man reading the death sentence while, unseen, Pilate's wife cried in the background.
According to Steves, pious Sevillian women, during the Holy Week procession, wail in the streets while 48 men in relays carry this float on the backs of their necks as they meander through the streets from midnight until 2 pm in the afternoon every Good Friday. The men must rehearse for moths ahead of time to ensure their choreographed footwork is in sync. Wouldn't it be absolute fabulous to be in Sevilla at that time of the year to see the Good Friday procession?!
If we thought the gold-leaf drenched Judgement float was over the top, the all silver and candles Macarena float wasn't far behind! This one weighed only 1.5 tons! It was described as being "strong enough to support the roof, but tender enough to quiver in the soft night breeze." Apparently, this float, when the statue of Mary is enthroned on it, has a a mesmerizing effect on local crowds who line up for hours, then clap, weep and throw roses as it slowly wends it way through the city streets.
Mary has a wardrobe of three huge mantles that are worn in successive years. They and her six-pound gold crown/halo are each about a hundred years old.
On the exterior of the basilica was a magnificent tiled image of Our Lady of Hope aka La Macarena aka the Virgin Mary.
Something that we soon became accustomed to seeing throughout Sevilla was this city symbol with the letters 'NODO' with a figure eight shape in the middle. The letters mean 'knot' in Spanish and the symbol recalls the strong ties between Sevilla's citizens and King Alfonso X. During the War of Spanish Succession in the 13th century, the Sevillians remained loyal to the king.
When I googled the name of this wall plaque, Divina Pastora, I learned that it translated to Divine Shepherdess and that it was of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus, with a lamb at her side.
The attractive Plaza San Marcos was one of several we strolled through but we didn't make time for its namesake church.
I loved how creative locals got decorating their garage doors as we hadn't seen that anywhere else on our many travels. I hope someone has rented the space by now.
It was amazing seeing tiled murals extolling Sevillians' love for La Macarena on so many buildings as we made our way to another church.
I loved the gorgeous tiled details on the corners of buildings.
If you love discovering a new city by walking, Sevilla is the place for you. The city is a pedestrian paradise and chock-a-bloc full of wonderful plazas that invite you to sit a while. This small square was Plaza Cristo de Burgos.
I never grow tired of seeing these beautiful birds of paradise flowers when we travel to far-off places.
Doesn't this make you just want to jump out of your chair and get up and move?!
I loved the smile of the cheerful waiter!
Calling all miners to this bodega variously translated as wine cellar, wine shop or small grocery store!
A chocolate museum - who could resist stopping there or simply admire the lovely boxes in the window?!
After an intriguing walk, we reached Plaza del Salavador, a favorite local meeting point. Its centerpiece was our next destination, Iglesia del Salvador or Church of the Savior, Sevilla's second biggest church that was built atop of a 9th century mosque just like so many other churches we'd already visited elsewhere in Spain. The church was home to more of the beloved statues that are paraded through the city during religious festivities.
The church interior, known as Andalusian Baroque in style because its architecture, decor, and statues were all from the same time period, was so bright and airy after the much darker basilica we saw first.
The church had a whopping 14 highly decorated altarpieces, many from the 18th century. Work on the monumental High Altar of the Transfiguration was begun in 1770 thanks to two generous benefactors.
The lovely fresco above the High Altar was only revealed after recent cleaning. The painting, created around 1775, represented heavenly glory with the Holy Spirit depicted as a dove in the center.
The two exceptional Pulpits were sculpted beginning in 1734 from white and pink marble. Sounding boards shaped like pilgrim scallop shells were used to increase the volume of those preaching the word of the Lord.
One of the altars contained another venerable Mary; this one was Our Lady of the Waters who was older than the church by about 400 years. For centuries, she was paraded through the city in times of drought before finding a permanent home here.
Unfortunately, we could only manage to get a peak of the interior of the vaulted ceiling above the statue and had to use our imagination as to how beautiful it must also have been.
The Baptismal Font was made by a stone cutter in 1591.
Visible through the wrought iron bars of another chapel was one of the city' most beloved statues, the Christ of the Passion, who was carrying the cross to his death. It was carved in 1756 in front of a large window overlooking the Orange Courtyard to create a powerful dramatic effect.
We had to wait a while and also exit the church before going through the courtyard and see the statue up close.
Other items that piqued my interest from the Sacristy:
I would love to have read the explanation about the religious figure on the donkey on one of the altars as that was sure different from anything we've seen!
The church's 18th century baroque organ was described as one of the area's most outstanding.
How pretty the reflections from the stained glass windows were on the pillars - they seemed to just come alive! They reminded us of the most beautiful reflections we'd seen before at La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the first city we saw in Spain about five weeks previously.
The evocative polychrome wood sculpture of St. Christopher was completed in 1597.
This looked like another float but wasn't sure. Perhaps it was the one that used to transport Our Lady of the Waters through the streets of Sevilla, but that's just a guess.
Back outside on the busy Plaza del Salvador, we took in the pretty sights before wandering around the corner of the church to its courtyard.
First, though, it was rather daunting seeing the list of the 97 main monuments and places of interest in Sevilla put out by the city's tourism board! We'd count ourselves lucky if we could see a mere dozen in the few days we had in the city before moving on to Portugal.
In the Orange Courtyard, we could more easily see the church's origins as a mosque with its arches now halfway underground. Through the doorway was the separate (paid) entrance to the chapel where we could much more clearly appreciate the Christ of the Passion statue. Barely getting a glimpse of it earlier through the wrought iron gate, we wanted to see it up close.
For centuries the faithful have come to this small chapel to pray, look at Christ carrying the cross to his death and also gaze at the red-eyed John the Evangelist and a grieving Maria Dolorosa who had convincing tears and a real dagger in her heart. Under the altar were the skulls of two Jesuit missionaries who had been martyred in Japan.
We followed other worshippers heading up the stairway behind the altar to kiss Jesus' heel.
Next post: Getting a sense of Sevilla by strolling through the Barrio Santa Cruz area a little later as we'd had enough of churches by then for a bit!
Posted on February 26th, 2019, a fabulously sunny day in the foothills west of Denver.