Culture, Education, Science and Community

CHRISTMAS. This Christmas, the illuminations will light up our streets for longer: up to 1.00 am from Sunday to Thursday, and up to 2.00 am on Fridays, Saturdays and the eve of public holidays.

Barcelona is gearing up for a Christmas with more illuminations, which will be lit up for longer, and with new proposals, such as routes taking in illuminated emblematic establishments. One of the new features this Christmas will be a series of totems or light structures, which will be installed in all the city’s districts, in the form of Christmas motifs. With the aim of extending the Christmas lights to the whole of the city, around twenty of these will be located in different points in the city.

These totems complement the new lighting proposals, launched in 2021 on city centre streets and which, selected through a design competition, seek to create an image of Christmas that is unique to the city, and which will be strengthened over the coming years.  So, the traditional elements that the new structures symbolise will be combined with lights that have a uniquely Barcelona-inspired design. The aim of the collection of totems is to ensure the Christmas lights reach new parts of the city, including less central locations. 

Where can you see them?

You’ll be able to see these types of structures in places like Carrer de Vallcivera in the Ciutat Meridiana neighbourhood, Plaça de les Fonts in Baró de Viver, Plaça del Congrés Eucarístic in the El Congrés i els Indians neighbourhood, and in Plaça de Sarrià and Plaça de la Bonanova squares, among others. With the same aim, the façades of 14 singular buildings, located throughout the city, will be lit up. These include the Torre de les Aigües del Besòs, the Masia de Torre Llobeta, the Viaducte de Vallcarca and the Casa Golferichs in the Eixample.

Lights are one of the key elements that help to promote commerce in the city during the Christmas season, and the City Council and retail associations both see the illuminations as one of the most effective measures for boosting trade in local shops. This year, there will be 110 kilometres of lighting, six more than last year. The official switch-on event will be taking place on 28 November and the streets will be lit up until Three Kings Day.  

Once again, the illuminations will be lighting up places like Plaça Urquinaona, Avinguda Paral·lel, Via Laietana, La Rambla, and also Passeig de Sant Joan (on the stretch between Avinguda de Vilanova and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes), which last year joined the list of spaces that have lighting at the initiative of the City Council. There will also be lights in Plaça Catalunya, Gran Via, La Ronda Sant Pere, and Carrer Balmes, which will have the same proposals as in previous years.

Support for retail associations

Also, for the fifth year running, the City Council is continuing to offer the extraordinary subsidy covering 75% of the cost of the Christmas lighting promoted by retail associations. The total budget for this subsidy is 1.4 million euros.  In the section Promoting Commerce in the Neighbourhoods, 20 streets will be lit up.

Once again, attention will be focused on places where the commercial fabric may be affected by long-term construction works. These actions cover 25 streets in the districts of Ciutat Vella, Les Corts, Gràcia, Horta-Guinardó, Sant Andreu and Sant Martí.  Also, 48 streets will be lit up as part of the Neighbourhood Plan and the façades of the 39 municipal markets will once again be adorned with Christmas lights.

More hours of illuminations and a bigger budget

Another important change this Christmas is that the lights will stay on for longer. They will be on from 5.30 pm until 1.00 am from Sunday to Thursday, and from 5.30 pm to 2.00 am on Fridays, Saturdays and the eve of public holidays. This measure will allow for maximum illumination throughout the Christmas campaign of 322 hours and 30 minutes. 

The new schedule, which keeps with the City Council’s view of the Christmas lights as one of the most important factors for fostering the celebration of Christmas and promoting economic dynamism in the city, respond to requests from the retail and restaurant sectors. 

The City Council’s total budget for all this year’s illuminations is 3.3 million euros, 13% higher than last year. The largest allocation (1.8 million) is for the production, installation, maintenance and removal of the lights promoted by the council itself.

The figure also includes the subsidies for the retail hubs (1.4 million euros) and the subsidy for emblematic shops (48,400 euros), among others.