Holy Week is celebrated in Madrid from Palm Sunday 10th April to Easter Sunday 17th April.
Madrid commemorates Holy Week 2022, not only in the exaltation of its devotion, but also in the celebration of other parallel cultural events. On the one hand, the churches and basilicas programme concerts of sacred music, the different brotherhoods take to the streets with the floats they have been preparing all year round and the best restaurants and bakeries in the city add typical Easter dishes with a traditional touch to their menus.
Here are the main activities that we can do during these holidays in Madrid
The Processions
It is a tradition in Spain and also in Madrid that during Holy Week, the delicate images that during the rest of the year can be visited in the different basilicas and churches are adorned with candles, flowers and richly embroidered cloaks to go out in procession along such representative places as the Paseo del Prado, Calle Alcalá or the Plaza Mayor. A spectacle worth seeing all along their route, accompanied by dozens of Nazarenes and carried by the costaleros of the different brotherhoods.
If you walk through the different neighbourhoods of the city centre you can enjoy the solemnity and devotion of the main processions. Here we suggest those held on Palm Sunday, among which we should highlight the procession of Nuestro Padre Jesús del Amor (La Borriquita) and the procession of the Santísimo Cristo de la Fe y el Perdón (Los estudiantes) and on Holy Wednesday the procession of Nuestro Padre Jesús de la Salud y María Santísima de las Antiguas (Los Gitanos).
Sacred music and the Tamborrada
Holy Week in Madrid is always accompanied by a great cultural programme, including the classic Organ Music Cycle in the church of San Ginés (Arenal, 13), which in 2022 reaches its fifteenth edition.
Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Mozart, César Franck and Franz Liszt will be performed at 18:30h (doors open at 18h) by maestros such as Ana Aguado (day 2), Ángel Montero (day 5), Bernhard Schneider (day 8) and Carlos Paterson (day 11).
In addition, there will be other concerts of interest such as the Stabat Mater by Luigi Boccherini that we can listen to on the 16th at the Conde Duque cultural centre (Conde Duque, 9-11) with the soprano Rosana Orsini and José Manuel Dapena, on guitar, as protagonists. On the 15th María la Terremoto will sing a saeta during the procession of Jesús de Medinaceli (20:30h).
On the 17th, at 12 noon, the Cofradía de Jesús de la Soledad ante las Negaciones de San Pedro y San Lambert of Saragossa will bring the celebrations to a close with a tamborrada in the Plaza Mayor, organised by the Cofradía de Jesús de la Soledad ante las Negaciones de San Pedro y San Lambert of Saragossa.
Gastronomy at Easter
As with any celebration, Semana Santa in Madrid is also accompanied by the preparation of typical dishes that are deeply rooted in tradition.
One of the must-haves on Madrid's tables during these days is the torrija, a sweet dish made with bread dipped in milk and cinnamon, fried and sprinkled with sugar. As usual, meat was forbidden during Holy Week, so fish dishes became the speciality of the season. Among the fish-based recipes, we find the Soldaditos de Pavía, which are nothing more than small pieces of cod in batter and crunchy that delight those who try them. Another essential dish is the Madrilenian chickpea stew , a stew of chickpeas accompanied by spinach, cod, potatoes and hard-boiled egg and, of course, the croquettes in this season of cod.
After touring the city, seeing the streets full of Nazarenes and tasting the typical gastronomy of Semana Santa, the best way to continue enjoying Madrid is to visit any of the rooftops converted into terraces for drinks and tapas, ideal for an end of the Fiestas in style. Here are some of the best ones.
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