The Seville Holy Week 2026 pregón: date, time, venue and how to follow it
The pregón, a solemn proclamation, symbolically opens Seville's Holy Week, a week before the processions. This guide covers the event itself: time, venue, broadcast, and the district pregones that get mixed up with it.
The main pregón of Seville's Holy Week 2026 takes place on Sunday 22 March 2026 at 12:00, at the Teatro de la Maestranza. It is delivered by the journalist José Antonio Rodríguez Benítez, whose profile has its own guide.
This page focuses on the event: what it is, how to attend or follow it, and which other pregones exist in the city and are sometimes confused with the main one.
What exactly is the Holy Week pregón?
It is a solemn speech that proclaims Holy Week, delivered at the Teatro de la Maestranza by a figure chosen each year by the General Council of Brotherhoods and Confraternities. It is not a procession or a parade: it is a single spoken event, in Spanish, interspersed with sacred music.
The Archdiocese of Seville described the 2026 edition with the theatre "packed" and the speaker carried out "on shoulders", which points to strong demand for seats, although none of the sources consulted publishes the exact capacity or the number of people who attended.
Photo: Sevilla Congress & Convention Bureau, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Can you watch the pregón without a ticket?
None of the sources consulted publishes the ticket price for the main pregón or the exact sales channel. Part of the seats are known to be reserved for guests and brotherhoods, but the split between free and paid places is not detailed.
If you cannot get a ticket, the documented alternative is the radio broadcast: COPE Sevilla and Cadena SER carried the 2026 pregón live, with special programmes that Sunday, in Spanish. No source lists television channels or streaming platforms with their own schedule.
While you wait for the pregón broadcast, a guided walk past the brotherhoods' headquarters helps you place what the speaker is talking about. Brotherhood and neighbourhood tours can be compared with Seville's other activities in a single catalogue.
See guided tours and activities in Seville →Affiliate link: booking through it helps keep this guide going, and costs you nothing extra.What other pregones are there besides the main one?
Seville holds district and neighbourhood pregones, each with its own date and speaker. Macarena's took place on Saturday 21 February 2026, from 20:00 to 23:59, at the Hogar Virgen de los Reyes, and Triana's on Thursday 19 March 2026 at 20:30, with the journalist Manuel Lamprea as pregonero.
These events get less media coverage than the one at the Teatro de la Maestranza and are not always announced through the same channels, which explains why they get mixed up in searches.
Where does the pregón fit in the Holy Week calendar?
The pregón takes place a week before Palm Sunday, during the run-up. Holy Week 2026 runs from 29 March to 5 April 2026, with the eve days proper on Viernes de Dolores, 27 March, and Sábado de Pasión, 28 March 2026.
The pregón does not appear in the procession timetables, because it is not a procession: it is an opening event. The full programme for the week is in the 2026 programme guide and the routes in the official itinerary.
The pregón takes place a week before the big week, and by then the best rooms in the centre are already starting to go. The guides agree on booking months ahead for the peak dates.
See places to stay for the Holy Week dates →Affiliate link: booking through it helps keep this guide going, and costs you nothing extra.What has not been published about the pregón?
- The ticket price and the exact channel for sales or invitations.
- The actual attendance: the sources speak of a "packed theatre", never of a figure.
- A full broadcast schedule (television, streaming) beyond radio.
- A public protocol in case of problems (postponement, change of venue).
For the rest of the week, the general guide to Holy Week in Seville brings together dates, figures and the busiest areas, and the guide to where to stay gives prices by neighbourhood.
Outside the month of the pregón, Seville moves at a different pace. A three-star hotel costs between €90 and €150 a night outside the peaks, according to 2026 guides.
Compare places to stay in Seville →Affiliate link: booking through it helps keep this guide going, and costs you nothing extra.Sources
- Andalucía Información: date, time and how to follow the pregón live, 20 March 2026.
- Archdiocese of Seville: report on the 2026 pregón, 23 March 2026.
- Hermandades de Sevilla (General Council) and Semana-santa.org: official 2026 pregón page.
- El Correo de Andalucía: announcement of the 2026 pregón, 17 March 2026.
- COPE Sevilla and Cadena SER: special broadcast programmes, 22 March 2026.
- Macarena District (City Council) and PlanoMato: Macarena pregón 2026.
- Diario de Sevilla: Triana pregón 2026, 27 February 2026.
- Europa Press: 2025 pregón, 4 October 2024.
The date and venue of the pregón carry their year and are reviewed with each edition. Anything unpublished is flagged as such.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Seville Holy Week 2026 pregón?
How can you watch or listen to the pregón without a ticket?
Is the Seville pregón the same thing as the processions?
Are there neighbourhood pregones as well as the main Seville pregón?
Álvaro Pineda
Álvaro worked for seven years as a guide at the Alcázar before he started writing. He walks his itineraries with a stopwatch and cuts whatever does not fit into a real day. He would rather say a monument is not worth it than pad out a list.
