Christmas lights to be switched on on a Saturday
The ceremony to switch on the Christmas lights is being held on Saturday, 22 November, at 6.30 pm, on Passeig de Gràcia. This year sees the city’s unique streets get signature Christmas lights to complement the districts’ own illuminations. In parallel, a creative competition is being launched for the new signature lights for Christmas 2026.
The festive illuminations will be in operation until 6 January 2026, from 5.30 pm to 1 am from Sunday to Thursday, and from 5.30 pm to 2 am on Fridays, Saturdays and 24, 25 and 31 December and 5 January.
The municipal installation and the lighting promoted by associations and shopping areas use LED bulbs, which consume less energy.
The lighting projects are the work of the five winning designers in the idea contest open to drive the city’s visual identity in collaboration with ADI-FAD, the Industrial Design Association. They are: ARTEC (Plaça de Catalunya), APO (Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes), SMLXL + MA-MA (C/ Aragó), and Esther Pujol (Nahtrang Studio) and Martà Cerdà (Via Laietana).
The municipal budget for the Christmas lights has been increased by 15% and stands at nearly 3.8 million euros, including the 1.3 million for local retailers’ associations to subsidise up to 75% of the cost of lighting projects in the city’s streets.
In addition, 28 street sections will be lit up in Ciutat Vella, Sants, Horta-Guinardó, Nou Barris, Sant Andreu and Sant Martí for a sum of 135,455 euros, on top of the subsidies awarded, as part of the programme to add vitality to neighbourhood commerce. The 39 municipal markets will again have festive lighting on their façades, as will some fifty decorative fountains in the city and the Mestral and Gregal wharfs at the new Port Olímpic.
Competition for 2026 under way
The competition for the new signature Christmas lighting for 2026 is open to professionals in industrial, product, graphic, spaces and lighting design or to architects with experience in lighting projects.
The call has a wider range of areas of action and is articulated in various categories that will be applied to different points around the city, such as urban lighting, singular elements, installations in public spaces and architectural illumination.
Projects can be submitted up until the end of October. Following an initial selection of teams, work on the final projects will get under way early in 2026 so that the production stage of the selected projects can begin.
