WeBarcelona Newsletter

La Noche de San Juan (St. John's Night) - Verbenas and BonfiresThe Night of San Juan this year 2021 will not be as limited as that of 2020, but there will continue to be restrictions. Only activities that guarantee safety distances between people will be allowed and some of the activities will be with prior reservation. There will be bonfires and festivals (see section below), firecrackers and fireworks can be bought in these booths, and the Flama del Canigó flame will return to Plaça del Rei, although it can only be accessed with prior reservation. The night of San Juan is a Christian holiday of pagan origin with bonfires, fireworks and firecrackers. Although celebrated the night of 23rd to 24th of June, it is associated with the summer solstice (June 21) and pagan rites, with bonfires, sought to increase the power of the sun on its way to the winter solstice.

Cruïlla Festival BarcelonaThis edition of the Cruïlla will be very special because we will once again enjoy the festival without limitation of movements or physical distance. And how will it be possible? All attendees must perform an antigen test on the days they enter the venue, and must wear an FFP2 mask, which they will deliver at the festival entrance. The 2021 program will have a markedly local accent, although there will be no shortage of international artists. In the 11th edition of Cruïlla, important artists such as Two Door Cinema Club, Kase.O, Morcheeba, Of Monsters and Men, Izal, Leiva, Tom Walker and Amaral will take the stage.

Kosmopolis Literature FestivalThe 2021 edition of Kosmopolis will be a moment of reunion to celebrate the word and collectively reflect on our future. Under the motto "The Literature That’s Coming", Kosmopolis21 will focus on science fiction as a great literary genre that transcends borders and traditions. With the exhibitions "Mars. The red mirror" and "Science friction" currently underway at the CCCB, this cultural center in El Raval will become the epicenter of science and science fiction: it will talk about travel to space, of collapsing planets and new habitable planets, of utopias and dystopias and of great stories that explain our place in the cosmos.

L'ou com balla - Corpus ChristiCorpus Christi is a 700-year-old festival, although for a period of time it stopped being celebrated until the City Council and the Barcelona Cathedral decided to recover this celebration, one of the oldest and most beautiful festivals in the city. The recovery was carried out from two of its most popular elements of the festival: "l'ou com balla" -the dancing egg- and the procession. To these two elements a third is added: the creation of ephemeral carpets. The commemorative events take place mainly in the patios and gardens of emblematic buildings in Barcelona.

City and Science BiennialThe City and Science Biennial is a forum to debate and reflect, from a scientific and technological point of view, on the great challenges that humans and the planet face. It is held in different areas and spaces of Barcelona every two years, and is organized by the City Council with the participation of universities, research centers, and scientific, cultural and educational entities. During the six days that the event lasts, you will be able to attend, in person or virtually, to debates, talks, round tables, exhibitions, concerts, film sessions and shows. The City and Science Biennial culminates with the 14th edition of the Science Festival.

Grec Festival of BarcelonaIn this year's edition of the Grec Festival, half of the events will take place outside the usual festival spaces on Montjuïc. It will therefore be a decentralized Grec that will reach cultural centers and public facilities such as the CCCB, the Macba, the Ethnological and World Cultures Museum, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, L'Auditori, the Palau de la Música, the Ateneu Popular 9 Barris, the Mercat de les Flors, La Badabadoc, the Sala Apolo, the Sala Becket, the Sala Hiroshima or the Borràs theater. This year 2021 the festival focuses its gaze on the creators of African descendants who live in Barcelona, ​​but it is an approach that avoids exotic portraits.Thus, for example, the opening show of the festival will be the theatrical adaptation of the novel Carrer Robadors, by Mathias Enard. Directed by Julio Manrique, the play tells us about the adventure and learning journey of a young man from the Maghreb of the Arab springs to the convulsed Barcelona of the days of 15M.

The Night of the Museums in BarcelonaThe Night of the Museums is an initiative of the Council of Europe that this year reaches its fourteenth edition. Thousands of museums in more than forty countries open their doors to citizens. In Barcelona and its metropolitan area (L’Hospitalet, Badalona, ​​Cornellà, Esplugues, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Sant Adrià and Sant Joan Despí), there will be 75 cultural centers that will open free of charge from mid-afternoon on May 15 until dusk. But on the Night of the Museums, in addition to visiting them, you can also participate in numerous activities for all ages. To make the cultural experience complete, temporary exhibitions, concerts, dance, poetry, performances, guided and dramatized tours, clue games and workshops await you.

The International Museum DayThe International Museum Day (IMD) is celebrated every year on May 18; It is organized since 1977 by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and aims to raise public awareness about the important role of museums and in the development of society. The most attractive events of IMD are the open days with free admission to the museums and the celebration of The Night of the Museums. On this day most of Barcelona's museums can be visited for free, among them, the most important ones like MNAC, Picasso Museum, Miró Foundation, MACBA and Tàpies Foundation. You can also access free temporary exhibition rooms such as the CaixaForum and CCCB,

Casa Batlló: 10D ExperienceThe wait was worth it. Casa Batlló has dedicated 6 years to designing this experience, a fascinating journey into the mind of Antonio Gaudí. "Casa Batlló: 10D Experience" is the first 10D work to be presented in the world. Thanks to the most advanced technology, you can enjoy the most fascinating immersive experience ever imagined. Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality or Machine Learning are some of the ingredients of this creative cultural proposal. The end result: impossible volumetric projections, motion sensors, binaural sound, immersive spaces never seen before and delicate proposals that involve the five senses.

Día de Sant Jordi - Saint George's DayIn 2020, the Sant Jordi celebrations on April 23 were canceled. A substitute for Sant Jordi was organized on July 23, which served to maintain the spirit of the day, but nothing else. 2021 will not be a normal Sant Jordi, like the ones before the pandemic, but not like the one on July 23. In 2021, bookstores and florists (490 distributed in the districts of Barcelona) will be able to sell their books and roses in the street between April 21 and 23, and on Sant Jordi Day ten open-air fairgrounds will be set up with controlled access throughout the city. These spaces, delimited and open until two hours before curfew, will be managed by the guilds of booksellers and florists, and will have a total of 180 stalls and 31 book signing points.