Celebrate La Mercè, celebrate Barcelona

Once again, La Mercè is just around the corner and Barcelona is gearing up for some festive fun.
Celebrating La Mercè means celebrating ourselves.
Celebrating our values of community harmony, diversity and solidarity. Celebrating
freedoms of every kind: creative freedom, the freedom to love, the freedom to enjoy and share Barcelona. Because La Mercè is an act 
of love that we give to ourselves so we can start the new season with our batteries fully recharged. 
Thanks to all the workers, artists, associations, entities and companies that make it possible for us to get together in the streets and squares during these festive days to enjoy Barcelona's culture in all its splendour. Because without culture, Barcelona wouldn’t be Barcelona.
Our festival is also a time for reflection and for showing solidarity with those who are suffering the most. For this reason, the guest city is Kyiv,
which for far too long has been living through an unjust war. For a few days, we will dream,
each and every one of us, of a scenario of peace.
This year we have an exceptional person giving the opening speech, Najat El Hachmi, a writer who is a leading figure in Catalan-language literature. And we’ll be able to enjoy
the wonderful poster designed by Chamo San, which shows the wealth, the vitality and the joy of Barcelona's citizens when we put our minds together to achieve something.
We all play a part in making Barcelona the city it is. And that's why La Mercè is a festival for
each and every one of us. We will enjoy these days with pride and with
respect for other people. We will show the values that have made
Barcelona great: we will make La Mercè an example of civility and happiness, where there is no room for intolerance or any form of violence. We will show that Barcelona has
the capacity, the talent, the confidence and the human potential to be the best city
in which to live and prosper.
We invite you to enjoy La Mercè and to celebrate the best of Barcelona!
Long live La Mercè!
Long live Barcelona!


Jaume Collboni Cuadrado
Mayor of Barcelona

Jaume Collboni Cuadrado