Murcia

Murcia is a region in Spain associated with the autonomous community of Murcia as well as the province of Murcia. Murcia is the Spanish Mediterranean region that has grown the more and the fastest during the past few years, due to the construction boom of accommodations, services and other mass tourist equipments. Recently it is promoting and boosting its potential as a cultural destination thanks to historical cities like Murcia (the capital city), Cartagena or Lorca, notable monumental municipalities as well as cities of services, with a colorful local folklore and festivities.

The Holy Week procession hosted by the city is among the most famous throughout all of Spain. This traditional festival portrays the events which lead up to and include the Crucifixion according to the New Testament. Life-sized, finely-detailed sculptures by Francisco Salzillo (1707–1783) are removed from the museums and carried around the city in elegant processions amid flowers and, at night, candles, pausing at stations which are meant to re-enact the final moments before the Roman crucifixion of Jesus.

The most colorful festival in Murcia may come one week after Holy Week, when locals dress up in traditional huertano clothing to celebrate the Bando de la Huerta (Huerta parade) on Tuesday and fill the streets for the Entierro de la Sardina (Burial of the Sardine) parade the following Saturday.

Murcia's Three Cultures International Festival happens each May and was first organized around overcoming racism and xenophobia in the culture. The festival seeks to establish understanding and reconciliation between the three cultures that have cohabited the peninsula for centuries, if not millennia: Christians, Jews and Muslims. Each year, the festival celebrates these three cultures through music, exhibitions, symposiums and conferences.