Moors and Christians to take over Murcia

MEDIEVAL festivities get under way in Murcia on Friday with the traditional Moros y Cristianos (Moors and Christians) festival which sees the city transformed from Murcia into medieval Mursiya.

The Moors and Christians will engage in battle for control of the city and this evening will see the first parade begin at 8.30pm in Plaza del Romea and run the length of the Gran Vía to the medieval camp. 

Saturday evening’s event is set to take centre stage, however, and after 9pm Plaza Camachos will see the start of the festival’s biggest spectacle. With the city festooned with decorations, revellers will be transported back a thousand years to the time of the Christian Reconquista of Spain to witness processions of knights on horseback, fair maidens and Moorish princesses.

Sunday will see the festival’s culmination, with ‘King Aben Hud’ delivering the keys of the city to ‘Alfonso X’ in a reenactment of the events which saw Murcia fall back under Christian rule in 1243.