Basílica de la Macarena - Seville

The Basilica Menor de la Santísima María de la Esperanza Macarena is modernly built and houses Seville's most venerated statue , a mid-17th century statue popularly called La Macarena , and the interesting museum where the various objects from this popular fraternity are on display.

On March 18, 1949, the Cardinal Archbishop of Seville, Pedro Segura y Sáenz, blessed the new temple intended to house the brotherhood's patron saint images. Until then, these images were venerated in the chapel in the parish of San Gil , which burned down in 1936.

In 1966, His Holiness Pope Paul VI declared the temple a Basilica. The temple has a basilical plan, with a single nave covered by a barrel vault with lunettes and four side chapels. It was designed by Aurelio Gómez Millán in the Andalusian Baroque style in response to the will of the Board of Directors. The basilica is accessed through a portico combining an arch and a lintel supported by marble columns, above which is an entablature in which there is a niche containing the sculpture representing the theological virtue of Hope.

The Museum of the Macarena Brotherhood is the second most visited in Seville . These modern and accessible facilities are intended to draw attention to the important artistic heritage that the brotherhood possesses after more than 400 years of history.

Spread over three floors, the museum begins by recounting the fraternity's most notable milestones. In successive rooms, the visitor can view various elements of the Virgin's passage, some of the tunics of the Nazarenes and the two completely assembled processions, allowing the visitor to pause for a moment and contemplate the infinite details of wood carving , goldsmithing and embroidery, in which no time is spared. is to notice the typical Madrugá crowds.

Willem Vandenameele