ABSTRACT 
Ceramic altarpieces and devotional panels placed on facades and other strategic urban locations enriched the production of ceramics in Valencia from the late seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century. Every church, district and association used to place an image of their patron saint in a niche where the faithful dedicated prayer or admiration. The streets of many of these villages soon became an outdoor museum where the beautiful ceramics represented stories and events or just popularized images making people keep their beliefs.
For a long time it has been evident that a review of traditional and religious ceramics and more specifically of the devotional panels and the via crucis was needed given that such artworks have been traditionally subjected to significant environmental degradation as well as urban changes. In this context, current analytical tests can determine any change occurring in the different layers of these works of art, and therefore changes that are imperceptible to the naked eye can be evidenced . 
This thesis studies the creation and evolution of such devotional panels. For this purpose a deep study of their composition, manufacturing techniques and historical development, as well as a photographical database of similar artworks all around the Valencian region was needed.  
Results obtained in ceramic mock-ups as well as in the materials used for the reconstruction of the supports after the different artificial accelerated aging tests (freeze-thaw, UV radiation, T / HR, corrosion, erosion) using optical microscopy, colorimetric analysis, FTIR, SEM and XRD have been satisfactory.