About two hundred years ago, thanks to thousands of gas lights, Paris became the first major European city to have public lighting and, therefore, to bring light to the darkness that, every night, took over its streets and elegant boulevards. The impact of that prodigy of modernity, being able to have an entire city literally lit up in the middle of the night, fascinated the entire continent and, since then, the French capital is known as the City of Light. We are not sufficiently aware of how important light is for the city. Let's imagine that when the sun set, the streets of Barcelona would be plunged into darkness. Shadows would take over streets that only the bravest or most reckless would dare to tread. Danger would lurk around every corner and Carles Porta would not be able to cope.
Light, therefore, provides security to the city, but not only. During this time of year, it also provides warmth, illusion and magic. Let me put it this way. For this reason, the best way we have to celebrate Christmas is to fill Barcelona with light. In this sense, we must applaud that the energy saving measures imposed as a result of the war in Ukraine have not condemned us to live these holidays in the dark. Let it be clear, however, that by this I do not mean that we do not have to opt for the most efficient lighting possible, nor that we compete with Vigo for having the most amazing Christmas decoration.
"Christmas lights also define cities," wrote journalist Borja Terán a few days ago on Twitter, adding: "Barcelona, the experience of seduction little by little. Madrid, the overexcitement of give me everything crazy." It's a beautiful way to see it.
This year, Barcelona has four more kilometers of Christmas lighting and the city council has had the good sense to think of residents and merchants and reinforce the lighting of the streets and squares affected by the works that have half the city upside down.
Light is also the protagonist element of a new Christmas tradition of the city: the Llums de Sant Pau, an installation that, for the second consecutive year, transforms the majestic Recinte Modernista Sant Pau into an even more magical place full of galaxies, stars and planets made of light and arranged along a hypnotic one-kilometer route. Don't miss it.
Do you know what were the last words Goethe uttered from his deathbed? "Light, more light!" Well, there you have it.
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