It has been a tough year, and we still have to follow some restrictions and precautionary measures, but Barcelona is once again gearing up for its big annual festival, a celebration that sees the city transformed into a showcase for traditions, street arts, circus, dance, music and film. A Mercè festival that has recovered its pulse and promises to help us forget, with all the necessary precautions, the worst of the months that are now behind us.

This year's festival will bring us back into contact with our best-loved traditions and will provide us with plenty of good excuses to reconquer the city, enjoying a thousand and one cultural events and experiences. The festival's classic settings will once again feature in this festive date par excellence on Barcelona's cultural calendar, but, as you will see, new venues have been added, some right on your doorstep, helping to bring the festivities to all corners of the city and make it as diverse and widespread as possible.

The music scheduled for the Música Mercè festivities and Festival BAM, along with the music included in the Cultura Viva programme, will be the highlight of a celebration that has had to adapt to current circumstances and that, having been transformed by the effects of the pandemic last year, will this year be taking advantage of some of the new ways of doing applied in the last edition of La Mercè.

From 23 to 26 September, Barcelona will be celebrating the La Mercè Festival. Don’t miss it!