Easter Week: the Passion comes to Tarragona

Tradition and spirituality coexist in the city during Easter Week, celebrations that most Tarragona residents experience intensely, regardless of their religious beliefs.

Program of the Easter Week 2023 in Tarragona: download as a pdf

If the Part Alta, Tarragona´s historic centre, already exhibits charm during the rest of the year, the days of Easter Week turn it into a practically magical place of devotion, where the darkness, the sound of the Armats (armed soldiers) and the aesthetics of the floats (some by outstanding artists such as Josep Maria Jujol) are hypnotic, whatever one's religious beliefs may be.

On Palm Sunday, the various Stations of the Cross are organised by the brotherhoods and guilds that form part of the Agrupació d'Associacions de Setmana Santa de Tarragona.

The days of recollection of Holy Week culminate on Good Friday afternoon with the procession of the Holy Burial. Before the departure, the Armats collect each of the elements, church by church, one of the most typical acts of the celebration.
The first documented proof of the celebration of this procession through the streets of the Part Alta (historic centre) goes back to the year 1550. Currently more than 4000 people group in 13 associations, brotherhoods and congregations and carry 20 pasos (episodes of the Passion of Christ) in this procession. The procession is preceded by the Armats who break the silence with the sound of their kettledrums.

This procession is considered as one of the most significant in the Mediterranean.

 Monuments opening hours

Don't miss it!:

DAY	ACTIVITY	TIME	TIME
11/3	700 years of the Gremi de Pagesos and the Gremi de Marejants procession	17.15	Streets of the historic centre
25/3	Viacrucis (Stations of the Cross) of the El Serrallo	19.30	Church of Sant Pere, El Serrallo (the seafaring quarter of Tarragona)
30/3	Viacrucis and procession of the Trinity or Gypsies	20.00	Streets of the historic centre
31/3	Divendres de Dolors by the Gremi de Pagesos procession	19.45	Streets of the historic centre
1/4	The Passion of Christ procession	19.00	Church of Sant Nicolau de Bari (Pau del Protectorat street)
2/4	Palm Sunday procession	17.00	Church of Sant Joan (General Prim square)
2/4	De la Sang viacrucis	19.00	Church of Natzaret (Del Rei square)
1 to 8/4	Exhibiton of the Tarragona Easter Week Art Heritage		Churches: Sant Agustí, Sant Miquel del Pla, Natzaret, Sant Llorenç
3/4	Viacrucis from the Ermita de Sant Magí	20.00	Streets of the historic centre
4/4	Dels Natzarens procession	20.00	Streets of the historic centre
5/4	Procession of the Suffering of the Virgin Mary for the Passion of Jesus Christ	19.30	Church of  Sant Joan (General Prim square)
6/4	Viacrucis of the Germandat del Sant Ecce-homo	23.45	From Maria Cristina avenue to Loreto Sanctuary
7/4	Processional viacrucis	6.30	Streets of the historic centre
7/4	Collecting the floats (images and religious sculptures that interpret the Bible)	16.00	From the Church of Natzaret in Del Rei square
7/4	Procession of the Holy Burial	19.30	From the Church of Natzaret in Del Rei square
8/4	Procession of Solitude	18.00	Church of Natzaret (Del Rei square)