Music, tradition, street arts and plenty of festive fun are in store in the city from 23 to 26 September with La Mercè 2022. The festival regains a wholly face-to-face format, with no bookings required. At lamerce.barcelona you’ll find the full programme for a decentralised and diverse event offering hundreds of activities, with Rome as this year’s guest city.

 Highlights in this year’s programme include:

• The opening speech. Film director Carla Simón has marked a before and an after in Catalan film and will be giving the opening speech this year.
• Popular culture. In addition to the traditional opening ceremony, there will be human towers meetings, music, dance and film linked to tradition. This year’s festival also sees the return of the Nit de la Vigília after an absence of three decades.
• The music and fireworks spectacular. The show returns to Av.Reina Maria Cristina, with a display combining light, colour and sound, and blending Italian and Roman melodies with music from a feminist perspective, opera to mark the 175th anniversary of the Gran Teatre del Liceu and music against war around the world, in a finale packed with energy and optimism.
• Concerts. Consecrated artists, new talent and new types of creation form part of the programme, which consists of three music sections: the BAM, Música Mercè and Acció Cultura Viva.
• Street shows. The MAC street arts festival offers innovative projects and new technological formats, with genres as diverse as integrated dance, contemporary dance, urban dance, street theatre, installations, workshops, circus, games, puppets, music and clowning.

You can find full details on this eagerly awaited edition of La Mercè on the website lamerce.barcelona.

The poster for La Mercè 2022

The author of the poster, David de las Heras, has brought together three generations of Barcelona women, representing a Mercè which transcends the passing of time and brings traditional and artistic creation together in the same celebration, remembering its roots and reiterating the city’s commitment to justice and peace.

If you wish, you can pick up a copy of the poster while stocks last at the Sala Ciutat (C/ Ciutat, 2), or download it here.