Although May is not a month to think about Christmas, the city already knows that this December it will shine brighter than ever and it will do so with style. There is still a way to go to achieve the prominence that cities like Vigo or Malaga have, but one has to start somewhere. For the first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, the center of Barcelona will make a qualitative leap this year in the history of Christmas lighting, becoming a new icon and marking the beginning of economic recovery after the pandemic.
For some years now, the City Council has been working to renew the Christmas lighting and turn it into an attraction for tourists, willing to visit the city just to be able to admire it with their own eyes and cameras. All this, working hand in hand with merchants, the main interested parties, as well as designers, so that they can highlight the Barcelona tradition in this field.
After adding new illuminated streets last Christmas, the council called a design competition a few months ago to find an original and quality proposal that would serve to change the lighting of Plaza Catalunya, Gran Via and Aragó. The Antoni Arola studio has been the winner, with a commitment to reclaim the central role of Plaza Catalunya for Barcelona, making it extend to the surrounding buildings and radiating light throughout the city. Gran Via will dress up, bringing lamps from home to the street, a figure that the LEDs that will run through it will imitate, while in Aragó they will play to change the sensations that will be drawn in the sky along the street.
Once the competition, which received up to 50 proposals, has been resolved, it is now time to launch another one, that of the production of the lights, with the forecast that everything will be ready by November, explains the Councilor for Commerce, Montserrat Ballarín. Over the next few years, this new designer lighting will be extended to other streets in the city center, combining the definition of an integral narrative with the variety of lights. For those who fear not seeing their favorite light creations again, Ballarín emphasizes that everything will be reused, as has already been done with those of Fum,fum and Nyam,nyam, which previously occupied Gran Via.
But this will not be the only novelty. For the first time, Ronda Sant Pere will have Christmas lights. It will be added to Plaza Catalunya, Via Laietana, Plaza Urquinaona, Balmes and the municipal markets, which also recently debuted.
All this will mean an increase in the budget that the City Council allocates to this festive lighting, going from 1.66 million euros to 2.05 million, 24% more. This growth is in addition to that made last year, when 65% more resources were allocated. Aid to commercial areas will also be repeated, subsidizing part of the cost of lighting or offering them the possibility of contracting the installation through the city council and thus avoiding having to advance money.