Viveiro

This town in the Lugo region of A Mariña boasts a Holy Week that has been declared a festival of international tourist interest and stands out, among other reasons, for the artistic value of its images, some of which are articulated. The “Paso” of the Supper, created at the beginning of the 19th century by a craftsman using local sailors as models to shape the figures of the Apostles, is more than two hundred years old. The processions of the Last Supper, The Arrest, The Encounter and The Holy Burial are some of the most emotional and colourful of its usual calendar. This year it will not be possible to enjoy them in the street to avoid crowds, but worship will continue in the churches and exhibitions and virtual activities will be organised.

More information at http://semanasantaviveiro.com/

Ferrol

Since 2014, Easter Week in Ferrol has also been recognised as a festival of international tourist interest. From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, the five brotherhoods of the city organise a total of 24 processions that fill the streets of Ferrol with fervour and colour. The main events take place between the neighbourhoods of Esteiro and A Magdalena on Wednesday, Thursday and Good Friday. This year, these processions will be replaced by alternative events, which will take place in the headquarters of each Easter brotherhood and in the Angustias, Amboage and Contralmirante Azarola Gresillón squares, respecting the sanitary measures and the capacity restrictions established by the authorities.

More information at http://www.semanasantaferrol.org/

Santiago de Compostela

The streets of the city of the Apostle are the unbeatable setting for the development of a Holy Week of regional tourist interest that has undergone an intense revitalisation in recent years, as demonstrated by the fact that Compostela now has more than a dozen brotherhoods. Its members are responsible for organising the 17 processions which recreate the main episodes of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The events planned for this occasion will take place between 26 March and 11 April, although the processions will also be dispensed with in order to avoid the health risks associated with crowds of people. Instead, the activities organised by the confraternities will be moved to their own headquarters and other enclosed spaces where capacity can be controlled and health measures can be complied with.

More information at https://www.semanasantasantiago.es/es/inicio/

Fisterra

The traditional festivities of Easter Week in Fisterra, also declared a festivity of Galician tourist interest, add a singular recreation in this town of the Costa da Morte that year after year congregates thousands of people, becoming the main event of its extensive programme. It takes place on Easter Sunday and the locals themselves are responsible for bringing to life the protagonists of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As last year, the promoters of the activities have had to cancel the processions and the aforementioned representation, but the liturgical acts planned inside the parish church of Santa María das Areas are maintained, and to avoid that the capacity limitations prevent the faithful and the curious from taking part, the Xunta de Confrarías da Semana Santa de Fisterra will broadcast them live through its space on Facebook.

More information at https://www.facebook.com/semanasanta.fisterra/

Lugo

The celebration of alternative activities centred on the processions that should take place every day is the idea on which those in charge of the board of brotherhoods of Lugo are working to keep Holy Week alive in the city of the wall, a festival also of regional interest. Thus, the neighbours will not be able to see the procession of the Holy Sacrament (a singular event linked to the privilege that the Cathedral enjoys to exhibit it permanently) nor the colourful encounter between Jesus Christ and the Virgin, but they will be able to join, with the consequent capacity limitations, the events that will be organised on special days such as Palm Sunday, and Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. 

More information at http://www.semanasantadelugo.com/es/noticias

Mondoñedo

The processions that take place from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday make Holy Week one of the main festivities in the Mondoñedo calendar and have led to it also being considered a festival of tourist interest in Galicia. Its origins date back to at least the 16th century, and although on this occasion the locals will not be able to take to the streets to attend these acts of great fervour and solemnity, they will be able to go to the monumental cathedral to follow the different masses planned throughout this festive cycle. 

More information at https://www.facebook.com/turismomondonedo

Betanzos

Declared of regional tourist interest in 2017, the Holy Week of Betanzos stands out especially for the processions of Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, being the one popularly known as Os Caladiños the most famous of them all. For the second consecutive year, the streets will not be the scene of the traditional route of the “pasos” and the brotherhoods and Nazarenes, but the liturgical acts will keep their spirit alive and the social networks will contribute to their promotion as it happened a year ago, when they were broadcast through the YouTube channel of the Pastoral Unit of Betanzos.

More information at https://www.facebook.com/semanasantabetanzos

Cangas

The artistic value of its “pasos”, some of them articulated to give more realism to the celebration, its antiquity and its roots make the Holy Week of Cangas one of the most outstanding in the province of Pontevedra and also allowed it to be declared of tourist interest in Galicia. Some of its brotherhoods were founded three centuries ago and their work has contributed to the fact that processions such as the Holy Supper, the Denial of St. Peter or the Holy Meeting attract large crowds. None of them will go out this year, but some liturgical acts are maintained and brotherhoods such as the Hermandad de los Dolores y la Soledad encourage residents to decorate their balconies with commemorative flags.

More information at https://cangas.gal/es/areas/turismo/fiestas-y-festivales/semana-santa

Paradela (Meis)

The involvement of the entire parish of Paradela, in the municipality of Meis, Pontevedra, has made its Easter Week one of the most outstanding in Galicia and therefore also of regional tourist interest. The locals themselves become actors for a few days to give life to the main characters of the central episodes of the biblical story: the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the arrest of Christ, the trial, the Stations of the Cross…. All of these are re-enactments which, like a year ago, will fall out of the programme of activities on this occasion due to the covid restrictions, although the brotherhood will probably once again take advantage of social networks to organise a Virtual Holy Week.

More information at http://bit.ly/SemanaSantaParadela

Santiago de Compostela

Monuments to St. Francis and the Sacred Heart

The city where he spent a good part of his life houses several of Francisco Asorey’s works. The most visible and important is the monument to Saint Francis of Assisi on which the sculptor worked between 1925 and 1930 to commemorate the seventh centenary of the death of the Italian saint. The sculpture is located in front of the façade of the monastery that the saint himself had ordered to be built at the beginning of the 13th century in Compostela after his pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostle. In addition, in the courtyard of the Compañía de María school there is a sculpture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus sculpted by Asorey in 1940.

Lalín

Monuments to Loriga and Aller

There are two works by Asorey in the municipality of Lalín, although in this case, unlike the ones in Compostela, they are not religious creations, but two pieces designed to pay homage to two outstanding personalities of the capital of the Deza region. The first, dating from 1933, is dedicated to the aviator Joaquín Loriga, famous for being part of the Elcano Squadron that completed an aerial travel between Madrid and the Philippines in 1926 and for being one of the pioneers of aviation in Galicia. His neighbours had started a popular subscription to give him an aeroplane, but after his tragic death in a plane crash in Madrid they decided to use the money to erect a monument to him, which was commissioned to Asorey and inaugurated in 1933. At the end of the 1950s, the sculptor’s talent was again called upon from Lalín to immortalise in stone another illustrious Lalín native, the mathematician, priest and astronomer Ramón María Aller Ulloa.

A Coruña

Monument to Manuel Curros Enríquez

The gestation of the imposing monument with which the city of A Coruña remembers the writer and journalist Manuel Curros Enríquez lasted almost three decades and was marked by various problems. The death of several important members of the Real Academia Galega (the entity promoting the tribute), doubts about the location of the monument, the fact that the first competition for ideas was not successful and the insufficient funds to undertake the project with which Asorey won the second competition were some of the obstacles that had to be overcome. It was finally inaugurated in 1934 in the gardens of Méndez Núñez, but the initial plan to deposit the ashes of Curros in a space provided for this purpose at the back of the building was never completed.

Samos

Monument to Father Feijóo

The sculpture with which those responsible for the monastery of San Julián de Samos wanted to commemorate the passing through the monastery of one of its most illustrious monks, Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro, better known as Father Feijóo (1676-1764) and one of the most outstanding representatives of the Enlightenment, was also awaited. The project had begun in 1935, but had to be put on hold because of the Civil War and was not taken up again until the 1940s. Finally, the statue sculpted by Asorey and placed in the centre of the cloister named after Feijoo himself was unveiled in 1947.

Vigo

Monument to García Barbón

The importance that the businessman and patron of the arts José García Barbón (1831-1909) had in Vigo can be seen in buildings such as the theatre that bears his name and the School of Arts and Crafts. And also in the monument with which the city wanted to show its gratitude a few years after his death to this emigrant who had prospered in Cuba and who, on his return to Galicia, after spending a few years in his native Verín, decided to settle permanently in Vigo. In this case, Asorey designed a large sculpture with the figure of García Barbón seated and the god Hermes presiding over the whole from above. The piece was inaugurated in 1927 by King Alfonso XIII in the avenue also dedicated to the patron of the arts and very close to the house he had lived in the city, but years later it was moved to a roundabout in Isaac Peral street. Another work by Asorey in Vigo is the sculpture dedicated to Eduardo Cabello, the engineer responsible for the works on the city’s port. This piece is located in the Bouzas area and was inaugurated only a year after the García Barbón sculpture.

Pontevedra

Monument to Manuel Barreiro Cabanelas

Manuel Barreiro Cabanelas (1867-1950) is another emigrant who prospered in emigration (Brazil), was noted for his philanthropic works and was immortalised by Francisco Asorey. The important donations he made to the Provincial Hospital of Pontevedra, which allowed it to expand its services on several occasions, led the Provincial Council to promote the construction of a statue in the early 1940s, which has changed its location at least a couple of times, but without ever moving away from the hospital façade. It was originally located above a fountain, but this was removed during one of these changes of location.

Mondariz

Monument to Doctor Rodríguez

Also related to medicine is the sculpture unveiled in Mondariz in 1925. Maximino Rodríguez Fornos was a doctor who died as a result of a fatal infection contracted during his intervention in a complicated childbirth. In homage to his dedication and by popular subscription, Asorey was commissioned to create a piece in which, next to the bust of the honoured man, there are figures that can be interpreted both as Greek gods and as the protagonists of the episode that caused the doctor’s death.

Lugo

Monument to Mayor López Pérez

Mayor of Lugo for four different periods between 1905 and 1931, as well as being a lawyer and president of the Círculo de las Artes, Ángel López Pérez left an indelible mark on the city of the Wall to the point of being honorarily designated “perpetual mayor”. Once again, Asorey was the sculptor chosen to turn into art a tribute for posterity, which can still be seen in Rosalía de Castro Park. The sculpture, which includes a fountain and a pond, was unveiled in 1958, but plans for a neighbourhood tribute to Ángel López Pérez dated back to the early 1930s.

Marín

Statues for the Naval School

The Marín Naval Military School can boast of housing a total of four creations by Asorey. All of them were commissioned on the occasion of the transfer of the Navy’s study centre from Cádiz to Marín and its inauguration in 1943. By that date Asorey had already completed a stone sculpture dedicated to the Virgen del Carmen, patron saint of seafarers, and a bronze statue of Álvaro de Bazán, the famous 16th century admiral. In the following years they would be joined by busts dedicated to two other illustrious mariners: Isaac Peral and José Luis Díez.

Cangas

Monument to Soage

Another of the statues that Asorey sculpted to pay homage to a philanthropist can be found in Cangas. The monument dedicated to José Félix Soage is dated 1924 and would have been placed a year before the inauguration of the market square paid for with the donations of this emigrant in Argentina. The piece consists of a bust of Soage and the image of a sailor holding an oar and is located in the gardens that also bear the name of the philanthropist.

Cambados

Monument to Cabanillas and tributes to Asorey

The town where Asorey was born could not remain oblivious to the legacy of the sculptor. In its streets you can see the monument erected in memory of another illustrious neighbour of the town and to whom he was linked by a relationship of friendship and by various parallels in their careers: Ramón Cabanillas. The so-called “poet of the race” was honoured by the “sculptor of the race” with a piece made up of a large block of stone on a pedestal on which a bust of the writer can be seen. The work, located on the Paseo da Calzada, was inaugurated a year before the death of the sculptor, who shortly afterwards would be the recipient of his own tribute. In this case it was two of his disciples, José Cao Lata and Joaquín Gil Armada, who were in charge of shaping a piece inaugurated in 1965 in the square also dedicated to Asorey and in which, in addition to the bronze face of the sculptor, a replica of one of his most famous creations can be seen: A Naiciña.

O Hío Cross

Cangas

Considered by many as the most beautiful cross in Galicia, this majestic piece located in the parish of O Hío in Cangas was built in 1872, as can be read in one of its carvings. Experts attribute it to the master Cerviño and highlight the detail and variety of the sculptures that can be seen from its base to its highest point. The original sin, the Immaculate Conception and the unlocking of Christ are some of the images that make up this spectacular cross located at a point from which we can also enjoy views of the Aldán estuary.

Os Cruceiros Bonitos

Abegondo

Its peculiar shape and beauty have led to the unique and descriptive name under which this cross is known in the municipality of Abegondo in A Coruña. It was built in 1787 and although it is currently located on the margins of the AC-542 road, it was originally located on the English Way. The four columns crowned by two figures flanking the pole and linked to it by metal pieces distinguish it from the majority of the crosses that can be seen in Galicia and link it to some of the pieces from the French Brittany.

Melide Cross

Melide

In the centre of town of Melide (A Coruña), in the middle of the French Way, we find this piece of the 14th century. This dating makes it the oldest cross in Galicia, although some specialists consider that it is not a cross itself, but a cross that was originally part of another set of sculptures and was later converted for that use. In fact, the pole is more modern and the piece has changed location at least three times. In any case, it is an emblematic work.

Mondariz Cross

Mondariz

The cross located in the municipal cemetery of Mondariz could share paternity with that of O Hío, although the reason for its inclusion in this list is very different. What makes this piece a singular monument is its dimensions. Its eight and a half metres in height, of which more than five correspond to the pillar and the rest to the capital and the cross, make it the tallest cross in Galicia ahead of other monumental pieces such as those located in the collegiate church of Santa María del Campo, in A Coruña; the church of Santa María A Antiga, in A Pobra do Caramiñal, or in the village church of Romelle, in Zas.

Cristo Enxoito

Xermade

Some crosses have been protected under later constructions of different types to protect them from bad weather, but in the case of the one located next to the parish church of Xermade, the solution adopted makes it a unique case. A small circular stone disc stands out over the cross as an umbrella or parasol. 

Holy Trinity Cross

Baiona

Dated to the 15th century, this cross located in the upper part of Baiona is notable for the pyramid-shaped canopy that covers it, but also for the figures that adorn the whole and for the polychrome that can still be seen in them and that relate them to those of the Portico de la Gloria. During the time of the Black Death, the place served as an altar from which to offer mass.

Arousa Sea Route and Ulla River Crosses

Municipalities of the Ria de Arousa

A total of 17 crosses make up this unparalleled set, as they form the only river crosses. They were built in the 1960s to remember and commemorate the route that, according to tradition, the boat that carried the remains of the Apostle Santiago would have taken to Pontecesures. They are located at designated points along the coast of the municipalities on both banks of the Ría de Arousa: from Ribeira to Pontecesures.

Pedra da Serpe Cross

Corme (Ponteceso)

The importance of this monument located at a crossroads near the village of Gondomil does not lie in the cross, but in what lies beneath it: a winged serpent carved directly into a granite stone and which could have originated in some ancient pagan cult. The cross placed later would have the aim of Christianising the place and freeing it from its original meaning.

O Cebreiro Cross

O Cebreiro (Pedrafita do Cebreiro)

Its location, in one of the most emblematic points of the French Way, makes the influence of the Jacobean phenomenon and the cult of the Apostle very visible in this cross. Santiago itself is represented on the pillar of the cross with the typical costumes of the pilgrim and several scallops, another of the great symbols of those who make this route, decorate the corners of the capital.