Six days of music, street arts, bees, and a focus on intangible heritage
From September 23 to 28, Barcelona celebrates La Mercè across 26 venues spread over eight of the city’s ten districts.
If you haven’t yet looked at the program, get ready—it’s packed: more than a hundred concerts, fifty popular culture events, eighty street arts performances, and many more activities you won’t want to miss. What will La Mercè 2025 be like? Here’s a clue: there will be bees, and a spotlight on the Intangible Cultural Heritage recognized by UNESCO in Barcelona and Catalonia.
This year’s poster of Mercè 2025, created by director and set designer Lluís Danés, is not just a poster—it’s a real object, a piece of wooden stage design with “metal, magic, and imagination,” as he describes it. It takes the form of a traveling puppet theater like those that once toured towns and villages.
The festivities open on the evening of September 23 with one of the great voices of Catalan theater: Emma Vilarasau Tomás, who will deliver this year’s opening address as pregonera of La Mercè 2025.
And yes—you’ll likely meet more than one bee. Industrious and collaborative, bees are also the symbol of Manchester: once an industrial hub, now a cultural one, much like Barcelona. That’s why Manchester is the guest city for La Mercè 2025, with its presence visible in the Música Mercè and BAM concerts, the Mercè Street Arts Festival, and even in traditional parades. Expect to see a giant bee or even a fire beast with a sting in its tail.
La Mercè 2025 also serves as a prelude to a major cultural event: Mondiacult, the UNESCO gathering of ministers and cultural leaders from around the world, which takes place in Barcelona right after the festival. It’s a chance to reflect on the city’s and Catalonia’s cultural heritage, with performances inspired by traditions recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage, from sardanes and castells to Catalan rumba and flamenco.
Alongside Mondiacult, Barcelona will host the Civic Agora from September 26 to October 1—a global forum on culture and sustainable development, open to citizens and cultural organizations, organized by the Barcelona City Council, Generalitat de Catalunya, Diputació de Barcelona, and Spain’s Ministry of Culture.
Music is, as always, central to La Mercè. More than a hundred concerts make up the Música Mercè festival (curated by Gisela Sais) and Barcelona Acció Musical (curated by Afluent), plus the BAM–Acció Cultura Viva series. Stages range from Plaça de Catalunya and Teatre Grec to Rambla del Raval, Moll de la Fusta, and the Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damm. The concerts of the city’s radio stations return to Avinguda Maria Cristina.
Street arts will again take center stage in the Mercè Arts de Carrer program: Parc de l’Estació del Nord and Parc de la Trinitat host diverse local and Manchester-based proposals; Parc dels Auditoris at the Fòrum becomes the new hub for contemporary circus; Parc de l’Aqüeducte is programmed by Pallassos Sense Fronteres; the Jardins de Joan Maragall offer intimate performances; and the Port Olímpic fills with family-friendly activities by the sea. Programming is led by Jordi Duran, Jordi Querol, Cristina Cazorla, Sergi Ots, and Tortell Poltrona (from Clowns without Borders)
Popular culture, infused this year with Manchester’s influence and the theme of intangible heritage, promises memorable moments: a parade with a new route and newly created figures that break the mold; the correfoc fire run on Passeig de Gràcia; and the Piromusical closing show. For 2025, it features music by Estopa, including the premiere of a collaboration with The Tyets, alongside fireworks and light displays by Pirotècnia Igual.
Don’t miss any of the experiences of La Mercè 2025—but first, check the full program on the festival’s official website.
