We particularly wanted to see The Semana Santa Museum in Zamora, but found it had closed in 2022 with no indication when it will reopen. The floats in the museum have been relocated into churches around the town, which is not an entirely happy solution as the churches are crowded and the sequence of events is lost. However, one can at least see something of these remarkable creations. Every church we visited has some floats, but Zamora has now started charging to visit the churches – last year visits were free and so we visited fewer of the buildings…
A brief history of the Semana Santa tradition
In the Middle Ages the Zamora monasteries and convents organised processions around their cloisters and streets. The aim was to teach people about the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ in a visual and realistic way. Zamora continues this tradition and processions are marked by austerity, silence and prayer. The museum had thirty-seven ‘steps’ in a sequence that told the story of the Passion of Christ, created by artists such as Ramón Álvarez, Mariano Benlliure, Quintín de la Torre, Aurelio de la Iglesia and Ricardo Segundo among others. This sequence is lost with items relocated in various churches around the town and no information about what that sequence was.
Church of Santa Maria de la Nueva
The church dates from the 11th century and is one of the many Romanesque churches in Zamora which I described when we visited last year. It stands near the Cathedral and the Castle.
The floats are remarkable, and very big. Even more remarkable is the fact that these are carried by men, not dragged or rolled.
Church of San Andres
The Church of San Andrés originally dates from the 12th century, but was rebuilt in the 16th century. A Jesuit Seminary was built abutting on to the church in the 18th century. This building is at the eastern end of the town, near the third set of walls.
Capitan Antonio de Sotelo (1498-1548) worked with Cortes in the Conquest of Mexico and was buried in Mexico City. He left money so that the Mediaeval church on this site could be rebuilt. This is why there are two main altars – one is the private chapel of the Sotelo family.
The church was crowded with floats, spoiling the interior space. It was very upsetting to the volunteer who looked after the building!
Semana Santa in Zamora is clearly a very striking and emotional week over Easter; I wonder if one would feel like an intruder if you were just a visitor in the town at the time?
itwasjudith
what a pity that they shut the museum and scattered around the contents in , seemingly, a hurry… The beautfiul story and context is lost. I wonder if they had to close quickly and just place the pieces somewhere