Dancing Giants—La Mercè 2023

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Ball dels gegants. Photo by Edu Bayer courtesy of Ajuntament de Barcelona (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

Barcelona's gegants (giants) and their illustrious guests from Kyiv, who will have spent the night at the Ajuntament (City Hall), will take to Plaça Sant Jaume in the morning to show themselves off in all their splendor.

After the display, and wide awake thanks to the sound of gralla pipes and trabuc blunderbusses, these monumental figures will start their dance, known as the mostra de balls de gegants.

Perhaps we’ll see the traditional ball de Santa Eulàlia, by the Plaça Nova giants; the Havanera by the Barceloneta giants; the popular Marieta de l’ull viu, by the Casc Antic giants’ group, or the Toc de Gràcia, the dance by the giants and mini-giants of Gràcia.

At 11:45, the dancing giants will be followed by the passada de nans i gegants, in which the giants and dwarfs will make their way to the Pati Manning parading through the streets of the Gòtic and El Raval for all to enjoy.

Celebrated September 22-25, 2023, the La Mercè festival program is packed with things to do and see. But if all the festivities of La Mercè get to be a bit too much, why not take a culture break?

Many of the city’s museums observe the holiday with a jornada de portes obertes (open doors). Check out our interactive map with all the locations that are throwing open their doors for free: Map of Barcelona Museums with Free Entry for La Mercè.

For other ideas about how to celebrate La Mercè go to What to Do for La Mercè.