In the Plaza de Jesús, located in the city’s Barrio de Las Letras district, we find the Basilica de Jesús de Medinaceli, one of five basilicas in Madrid, famous for the image of Christ of Medinaceli, a Nazarene Christ from the 17th Century, a figure of great devotion among the people of Madrid. Every year, on the first Friday of March, thousands of faithful devotees come here to kiss the statue’s feet.

This temple, declared a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in 1973, stands on the site of the former Convent of Discalced Trinitarians of Our Lady of the Incarnation. It is the canonical seat of the Primary Archconfraternity of the Royal and Illustrious Slavery of Our Father Jesus Nazarene of Medinaceli. It is currently run by a community of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.

Cristo de Medinaceli

The famous statue of Christ stands 1.73 metres tall and dates back to the first half of the 17th Century. It was carved in Seville, which explains why its iconography corresponds to that of Christ hearing his ‘Sentence’. In 1682, it was brought to Madrid, where it arrived amid rumours of miracles. That same year, the first procession was held, attended by the “whole of Madrid”: faithful commoners, the nobility, and the royal household.

Since then, every year there is a major pilgrimage held on the first Friday of March, attended by a member of the royal family to pray to the famous Nazarene.