Elvira Zulueta casket

Elvira Zulueta casket

This beautiful casket was gifted to Saint Mary’s Cathedral by Elvira Zulueta in 1925. It had been made by the artist Félix Granda Buylla (1868-1954), founder of the prestigious Arte Granda workshops in Madrid, which produced exquisite sacred art items for the most important churches and cathedrals in Spain and abroad.

The casket was designed to place the Blessed Sacrament in the Holy Thursday monument, which was set up in the cathedral every year at that time. It is rectangular in shape, covered by a trapezoidal gabled roof and made of gilded silver with ivory plaques and inlaid with precious stones donated by Elvira Zulueta. It is richly decorated with geometric and vegetal motifs, as well as with ivory scenes from the Passion, which was closely tied to the working philosophy of the Arte Granda workshops, whose aim in their creations was to return to the symbolism of divine worship objects. It is stylistically an eclectic piece that fuses various artistic currents.