HISTORY

History

The origins of the penitential Holy Week in Seville are to be found in the late Middle Ages (from 1350 onwards), but details are scarce.
By 1578 already over 30 brotherhoods performed penitential processions during the Holy Week.
By 1604Cardinal Fernando Niño de Guevara, gave the first ordinances mandating all Sevillan confraries to make a stop in the Cathedral (and at St. Anna those of Triana) and assigning certain time frames for this (from Wednesday to Good Friday).
The 20th century has seen a progressive revival and fixing of the forms of Holy Week, despite two serious blows in between: the anticlerical period of the Second Spanish Republic, which culminated in the destruction of churches, images and goods around July 18, 1936, and the period immediately following the II Vatican Council, which coincided with the social changes in Spain around the death of Francisco Franco.

Extracted from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week_in_Seville#History