Via Crucis to the Cruz del Campo

[5] On 20 October 1520, Don Fadrique Enríquez de Rivera, First Marquis of Tarifa, returned from a trip through Europe and the Holy Land.

[2] This route ran the same distance of 997 metres (3,271 ft) or 1321 paces supposed to have separated the praetorium of Pontius Pilate from Calvary.

[10] In 1604, Cardinal Fernando Niño de Guevara issued a series of reforms intended to rein in the tendency of the processions of flagellants to take on the character of a carnival.

Schedules were established; nocturnal processions were banned (although that particular provision would soon lapse);[3]) the Cathedral of Seville in the city proper and the Church of Santa Ana across the river in Triana as Stations of Penitence, rather than each group beginning its route at a location of its own choosing.

[14] The reestablished stations were blessed by Archbishop (and future Cardinal) Bueno Monreal, (as is now recorded on a commemorative marble memorial).

[17] The original Via Crucis initiated by the Marquis of Tarifa began inside the Casa de Pilatos in the Chapel of the Flagellations and ended at a pillar near the current Templete (small temple).

[10] It is unclear whether the wooden crosses that initially marked the stations were permanently installed or put in place only for the Lenten season.

In 1720 the last two stations were added, for a total of 14, resulting in the current route[3] followed by each of the various confraternities who process through the city during Holy Week, which runs roughly 2 kilometres (1.2 mi)[citation needed] along streets in central Seville.

[4] Sources indicate that it was in 1482[22] that the corregidor[23] or asistente[6] of Seville, Don Diego de Merlo, substituted a stone cross and covered it with a Templete in the Mudéjar style,[4] 13 metres (43 ft) in height.

[6] In 1536, the Marquis bought the Templete (previously owned by the brothers of the Monastery of San Benito Abad), and moved it to its current location.

[23] In 2000, José L. García of ABC Sevilla wrote of the "sad aspect" of a monument on a busy street "practically asphyxiated by modern buildings", much vandalized, with its interior turned into a filthy nest of pigeons.

[26] After innumerable years of promises by many entities to restore the deteriorating structure of the Templete (which has been owned by the city of Seville since at least the 19th century,[3][23]) work finally began in 2007, paid for by the Fundación Cruzcampo (founded by the brewery company),[27] and was completed 29 February[citation needed] 2008 with a benediction by Carlos Amigo Vallejo of Seville.