Axarquía

Religious artefacts that survived the Civil War to be exhibited in Vélez-Málaga's Santa María church

The eastern Costa del Sol town's Holy Week museum houses robes, cloaks, banners, carvings, books and photographs that reflect the traditions dating back to before 1936

Holy Week Museum in Vélez-Málaga. (Diputación de Málaga)

SUR

18/09/2026 a las 15:51h.

A tradition from Holy Week in Vélez-Málaga that existed before 1936 is being revived, nine decades later, at the Santa María de la Encarnación ... church in the eastern Costa del Sol town. From this week the Holy Week museum is hosting the exhibition ‘El Ayer que Pervive. 1936-2026’, (The Past that Lives On. 1936–2026). The exhibition focuses on artefacts that were saved from the destruction of much of the artistic and devotional heritage of Vélez’s Holy Week brotherhoods during the Civil War.

The exhibition has been organised by the association of Holy Week Brotherhoods of Vélez-Málaga, in collaboration with the town hall. It will remain open until 29 November.

The exhibition marks the 90th anniversary of the events of July 1936, when according to the exhibition’s documentation, between the 21st and 22nd of that month, numerous items that the brotherhoods had accumulated over the centuries were destroyed: statues, thrones, altarpieces, furnishings, books and other objects related to worship and processions.

The exhibition brings together artefacts saved from 1936 which today represent one of the few physical links to Vélez’s traditional Holy Week celebrations

Not everything was lost. Some items were at that time in private homes, archives or outside the churches themselves and were saved. Others remained in the care of families for decades. It is precisely these surviving objects that now enable us to establish a tangible link with Holy Week, much of whose heritage has been lost.

The selected items include processional robes, cloaks embroidered in gold on velvet, banners, sceptres, gold and silverwork and carvings. Also on display are rule and account books, photographs and archival documents from various brotherhoods, each with very different conservation histories.

Informative section

The mayor of Vélez-Málaga, Jesús Lupiáñez, said that the exhibition allows us to “gain an insight into a part of our history which, for a long time, we have only been able to learn about through references and documents”.

Speaking on behalf of the association of religious brotherhoods, the chairman of the museum and art committee, José Miguel Rodríguez Ruiz, explained that one of the objectives is to “raise awareness of this heritage that was saved and to give it the place and recognition it deserves”.

Santa María church is hosting a free exhibition featuring robes, carvings, documents, photographs and other items associated with the Holy Week brotherhoods until 29 November

The exhibition also offers a journey through the historical development of a celebration whose roots, according to information provided by the organisers, date back to the 15th century. The events of 1936 subsequently forced a reconstruction practically from scratch. The current Holy Week celebrations in Vélez-Málaga, comprising 19 brotherhoods and 24 floats, are the result of that long process of recovery.

The exhibition will be open to visitors free of charge until 29 November. Opening hours will be Tuesday to Saturday, from 10am to 2pm and from 5 until 8pm, while on Sundays and public holidays it will be open from 10am to 2pm and it will be closed on Mondays.

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