This Monday, the Mediterráneo Foundation transferred to Paso Morado the image of the apostle San Felipe, the work of the sculptor Nicolás Salzillo, which dates back to the year 1700. The carving has remained in recent years in the Espín Cultural Fund, a space that belongs to the Foundation. The transfer ceremony was held in the future Via Crucis museum where the president of the foundation, Luis Boyer, showed his “great satisfaction” because the image will once again be part of the throne of the Table of the Apostles in the Holy Thursday procession .
It will do so in an exceptional way, since the carving, which is in perfect condition, will be permanently displayed in a display case in the Paso Morado museum to guarantee its proper preservation.
With the original tunic
That of San Felipe is a dress image made of polychrome wood, with a head and hands and arms articulated at the shoulders and elbows. He keeps the original tunic, made of red velvet and white lace on the cuffs, with which he will go out in the procession. She will thus be distinguished from the other apostles who make up the oldest cenacle in Spain, who wear a white tunic.
The sculptural group was commissioned by the Brotherhood of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno of Murcia. It paraded through the streets of the Murcian capital until in 1763 when the aforementioned brotherhood acquired a new sculptural group made by Francisco Salzillo, which currently continues to parade on the morning of Good Friday. It was at that time when the primitive group was sold to the Lorca brotherhood of Santísimo Cristo del Socorro, predecessor of the current Paso Morado de Lorca. Only nine carvings remain from the original group, since the others were destroyed during the Civil War. The rest are from Manuel Carrillo and José Gerique.
The original of San Felipe passed into private hands and later ended up in the collection of Espín Rael, whose legacy is guarded by the Mediterráneo Foundation, although the carving was not exposed to the public.
The mayor, Fulgencio Gil, said that the transfer of the sculpture is an “important milestone for the Paso Morado and also for Holy Week in Lorca.”
The president of Paso Morado, Ángel Latorre, recalled that the carving of San Felipe processioned with the rest of the apostles until 1920 and “now it returns to the brotherhood after a century. “We have claimed it for 27 years.”
The last request for return was supported by a report from the Municipal Archive that raised the “desirability that an artistic asset that is separated from the complex should return to its rightful place.” Excited, he thanked the Mediterranean Foundation for providing the piece that the brotherhood will guard from now on.
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