The aim of this exhibition was to recuperate, for the collective memory of the people of Lleida, the history and legend of what has been the most prized relic of the city for more than six hundred years: the Holy Cloth . A sanctified object that, in addition to making Lleida an important place of devotion, was also worshipped by rich and poor, popes and kings, ending up increasing the salary of the furta sacra or “holy theft” when it disappeared from the Bank of Spain, according to oral testimony, right in the middle of the Spanish Civil War, and after more than six hundred years of citizen worship.

In spite of its loss, and since the Peninsular War, a small remnant of this fabric has remained in Lleida in the hands of the Puig family. Another fragment of the Holy Cloth is conserved in the parish of Escalona del Prado (Segovia), in a reliquary of the “Vera Cruz”. A reliquary with a singular history linked to King Felip IV, the count of Peñaranda and fruit of the donation of Brother Pere de la Creu who gave it to Simó i Maria de Abrados in 1665 to take it to Escalona, where it has remained since then.

The exhibition showed us the world of worshiping relics and reliquaries, with a selection of objects from the Museum of Lleida, pieces of precious metalwork and painting, which explained the use and function of relics and reliquaries.