The name Francisco Salzillo is inseparable from Murcia. Born here in 1707 to a Neapolitan father, he spent his entire career in the region, carving around 1,800 wooden figures in an intensely expressive baroque style before his death in 1783. His polychrome sculptures are startlingly lifelike — faces twisted in grief, hands reaching out, robes caught mid-flutter.
The museum displays a strong selection of his work, but the real showstopper is the enormous nativity scene (belén) made up of some 500 miniature figures. During Holy Week, many of his larger pasos are carried through the streets in Murcia's famous processions — a tradition that has continued for centuries.