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Today, more than thirty thousand "nazarenes", who, in former times, were the members of the Guilds, along with nine processional cortèges, cradling tonnes of iron and carved wood on their shoulders, depicting the Passion and Death of Christ pass through the steep streets of the Medieval city: a particularly inviting scene invented to represent the Mystery of the Passions.

The Religious Music Week takes place in Cuenca to coincide with Easter Week. Orchestras and Choirs of international standing take part, performing different compositions of sacred music.

How to get there

Road transport

The Cuencan Easter Week celebrations are made especially interesting by the urban setting. The city’s streets and hills seem to make an unusual backdrop for the passing processions. The many hooded members of the brotherhoods, with beautiful images, move in a procession through the typical serenity of a Castilian town, made even more beautiful by the Medieval atmosphere of this city at nightfall.

The processions start on Palm Sunday with La Borriquilla, accompanied by palms and olive branches and the passing of Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza; the Vera Cruz procession, on the Monday, that of Forgiveness on Holy Tuesday (with the performance of the Miserere de Cuenca), and the procession of Silence on the Wednesday. The culminating days are Maundy Thursday with the night time procession of La Paz y la Caridad; and Good Friday, with three precessions: at dawn there is the Camino del Calvario, at midday, in the Calvary, and at dusk, the Santo Entierro. The final procession of the Cuencan Easter Week is that of the El Resucitado, on Easter Sunday.

Of all of the processions, the most outstanding is the Camino del Calvario, popularly known as “Turbas” in the early hours of the morning on Good Friday. In it, the mob mock the image of the Saviour, sounding their out of tune trumpets and rolling on their drums, while they drink “resoli”, the typical Cuencan liqueur, to fight of the chill of the night.

Dates

Dates vary depending on the liturgical calendar.

Area

International Tourist Interest