Nadal 2023

Barcelona bid farewell to 2023 with a firework and drone festival on Av. Reina Maria Cristina featuring the company Groupe F, directed by Christophe Berthonneau.

Some five hundred illuminated drones filled the skies above Montjuïc at a height of 250 metres, in a show that welcomed in the new year: a time of celebration, of looking to the future, of hope, in which wishes played a very important part. It was a space for sharing and for creating new resolutions together for the year that’s about to begin.

Fireworks, light and music symbolised the city's imaginary and the desires of the people that live here through such iconic images as the Barcelona panot [the city’s typical paving tiles with a flower design are called ‘panots’], the Barcelona skyline, the grid formed by the streets of the Eixample district, and Modernisme. The show also highlighted major events coming up in 2024, such as Tàpies Year and the America's Cup. The show was a tribute to Barcelona and its relationship with the sea, in a year when both the Catalan capital and the sea will be under the spotlight all around the world.

The celebrations began with a show before midnight, with music and lights all along Av. Reina Maria Cristina. A huge ball of light rising 75 metres high in the air presided over the party. The music began to warm things up at 9 pm, and the ball of light was turned on at 11 pm.

At midnight, the drones drew a bunch of twelve grapes in the sky, one to be eaten with each chime of the clock as tradition demands. After the quarter bells, there were twelve short bursts of fireworks to mark the chimes that usher in the new year.

In the first few minutes of 2024, technology, light and fire brought the Desig Barcelona show to life: here and now, to celebrate life, to celebrate Barcelona.

Owing to the drought decree, the Magic Fountain on Montjuïc was not part of the display.