The Night of the Churches will open several churches in Mallorca to the public

The 3rd edition of the Night of the Churches will open several churches in Palma and the part forana this Friday, 20th October. The event is organised by the Bishopric of Mallorca and the Fundació Amics del Patrimoni (Friends of Heritage Foundation). The president of the Foundation, Joan Guaita, and the episcopal vicar of Historical and Cultural Heritage, Mn. Francesc Vicens, explained that the Nit de les Esglésies is an initiative that took place in Mallorca for the first time in 2019. It then followed the example of other European cities. In the first two editions it has been a great success with the participation of hundreds of people who have attended the event.

Between 20:00 and 23:00 on Friday, the churches participating this year will remain open, illuminated only by candlelight and in silence. The aim is to make the churches available to people in a different way to the rest of the year. The initiative, explained the vicar, aims to create an experience “of austerity and contemplation of the heritage, from a different perspective, with different eyes, more aesthetic and original, as they were and as the churches were intended”.

For his part, Joan Guaita stressed that this is an opportunity to “mimic and be seduced by the beauty of our religious and artistic heritage”, and added that this initiative “allows us, once again, to highlight the value of our conservation efforts”.

Temples open on the Night of the Churches in Mallorca

The churches that are once again taking part are, in Palma: Sant Felip Neri, the basilica of Sant Francesc, and the convent church of Mare de Déu del Socors. In Santanyí, the chapel of Roser; in Petra, the convent of Sant Bernadí; in Felanitx, the convent of Sant Agustí; the church of Sant Jordi in Pollença; and the convent of Sant Vicenç Ferrer in Manacor. The churches that have been incorporated this year are Sant Cristòfol in Biniali; the convent of La Caritat in Sencelles; and the parish church of Sant Bartomeu in Sóller.

Although the visits during the Night of the Churches are free and without capacity limits, in Palma it is proposed to begin at 20:00 in Sant Felip Neri. Then continue on to Sant Francesc and finish at Socors, going in groups. This was explained by Mn. Francesc Vicens, who said that it takes a while for the eyes to get used to the darkness, to the natural light and for “the noise that we all carry inside us to become silence”. The experience aims to “encourage spontaneity” and allow “without any intervention or direction, this space, its beauty, to do what it has to do within oneself, an effect that will be different in each person”, in short, he concluded, that “the silence and the light speak for themselves without the need to add anything else”.