Some historians say that it was in 1582 that the first document appeared detailing the expenses of the procession of the Virgin of Soledad and the Holy Burial. and for those years the beginning of the procession can be located.
In 1650 it began to undergo important changes, for example, the first urn made of tortoiseshell and silver attributed to the colonial sculptor Pedro de Mendoza..
In 1697 the participation of the guilds of the time began (bakers, blacksmiths, carpenters, etc.), who were in charge of dressing and decorating the so-called weeping angels who to this day continue to be part of the Dominican procession.
After the capital of the kingdom was destroyed by the earthquakes in Santa Marta in 1773, the Dominicans were one of the first religious orders to move to Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción.
It would not take many years for the Holy Burial to go through the streets of the new capital again, maintaining the structure that it brought from the old city, so the city council would continue to be in charge of organizing the procession until On July 18, 1852, the Brotherhood of the Buried Lord of Santo Domingo was founded at the request of several devotees of the image under the direction of Fray Pedro Mártir Salazar, OP.
The procession through the years
In 1940, definitive modifications were made to the urn to leave it as we know it today: it was made taller and the legs and trusses were redone, work carried out in the workshops of Benjamín Granados.
In 1868 and to give more body to the procession, the images of the holy men José de Arimathea and Nicodemus began to appear, images that continue to appear today.
In 1888, a Via Crucis with paintings painted in oil was brought from Europe and they left until 1936 when, with the coming of the steps, they stopped coming out.
With the arrival of the 20th century more changes would come. For example, In 1907, the images of the Roman soldiers Longinos began to appear, who was the one who pierced the side of the Lord with his spear, and Cornelius, one of the first Romans to become followers of Jesus.
In 1929 The steps of the Via Crucis begin to arrive from Spain, sculptural groups that represent the passion of Our Lord.
In 1910, incandescent light was introduced in the Santo Domingo procession, being one of the pioneers in this regard, in 1940 neon gas lamps began to be used to illuminate the urn and in 1970 The power plant begins to be used.
The buried Lord begins his journey a few minutes before 3 pm on Good Friday each yeargoing through the streets and avenues of the Historic Center, is accompanied by the images of the Virgen de Soledad, a beautiful work of the Guatemalan baroque that comes from the end of the 16th or beginning of the 17th century.