PhD Program in Historical studies
The recent history of Holy Week in Seville
On the threshold of the contemporary age, the ancient tradition of Holy Week in Seville began a season of profound change and endless vicissitudes. Between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the Crown obliged the confraternities to submit their statutes to approval by the government. The Napoleonic occupation of Spain (1808), the subsequent war of liberation, the revolutions and the civil unrest of the early decades of the nineteenth century upset the rhythms of Holy Week in Seville. The confraternities went through a moment of stagnation, aggravated by the sale of ecclesiastical goods determined by the government. During the reign of Isabella II of Bourbon, finally, they witnessed a revival: in the forties of the nineteenth century, in fact, the number of confraternities and processions increased as did the faithful and tourists who attended Holy Week. The authorities devoted more attention to the promotion of tourism and its economic implications (in these years the custom to sell seats along the official route of the processions was inaugurated). Isabella’s exile (1868) ushered in a new era of institutional instability, which lasted until the Bourbon restoration of 1875. It was only in the late nineteenth century, that the confraternities returned in vogue. There were new confraternities, the restoration of some old ones (which were now identified with the city districts, and not with corporations or with the ethnic groups and the Sevillian nobility) and the codification of the existing Pasos de Palio (the canopy pageants depicting the Virgin Mary). In the early decades of the twentieth century, Spain was torn by bitter political conflicts and strong anti-clerical forces which produced adverse effects on the Holy Week. The proclamation of the Second Republic (1931), in particular, ushered in a period of tension and violence, which prevented the carrying out of many processions (in 1933 none came out) and caused heavy damage to the religious heritage, pushing the confraternities to side with the conservative forces. After the period of changes experienced during the long dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1936-1975), there has been a new positive period, still in progress, also marked by a further enrichment of the artistic heritage.