The Ondara City Council has made the decision to initiate a file to regulate the declaration of the song of Sorrows of Holy Week in Ondara as an Intangible Asset, through the figure of the BIC (Intangible Cultural Interest Asset) or the BRL (Asset of Relevance Intangible Premises). The mayor of Ondara, José Ramiro, and the Councilor for Heritage, Raquel López, have announced this measure after meeting with the groups and people linked to Holy Week in Ondara and, specifically, the act of singing of Sorrows. It is an initiative that seeks to preserve and protect this tradition so deeply rooted in the town.
The celebration, this year 2023, of the Centenary of the Virgen de la Soledad as patron saint of Ondara, has been considered as one more incentive to declare Los Dolores as an Intangible Asset on this important date. The necessary tasks to achieve the Declaration will begin shortly, promoted by the City Council itself, through departments such as the Municipal Archive, as José Ramiro has specified.
Conceived and created by the Ondarense musician and composer Gonzalo Ortolà Marí (1899-1962) after the premiere of the hymn to the Mare de Déu de la Soledat, which was performed in 1924, precisely one year after the papal decree of June 1923 Pius XI who canonically declared the Virgen de la Soledad as the patron saint of Ondara, the Dolores de Ondara are a deep-rooted manifestation of how a composition of religious inspiration has achieved popular and artistic recognition through the traditional septenary that precedes Holy Week ondarense.
It is worth mentioning that it will be the first Intangible Good of Ondara. The municipality does currently have Material Assets: two BICs, from the Clock Tower and the façade of the Casa del Mayorazgo, and a BRL from the Molí Covi, and in general, all the elements and infrastructures of a fluvial nature in the municipal area.
The Ondara City Council has made a call to the public, so that anyone who has documents, photos, resources or audios related to the Dolores can contribute them for this declaration. For this you can contact the Municipal Archive of Ondara, in the basement of the House of Culture or by email arxiumunicipal@ondara.org.
