La Mercè at Palauet Albéniz

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Photo by Gisela Jané courtesy of Ajuntament de Barcelona (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

The Palauet Albéniz is one of Barcelona’s most special and little-known corners. Surrounded by the elegant Joan Maragall Gardens, this historic green space features numerous sculptural ensembles and ornamental fountains. Constructed for the 1929 Universal Exposition to house the royal family during their stay in the city, it is built in the Neoclassical style, in stark contrast to all the others located on Montjuïc Mountain.

While the Joan Maragall Gardens surrounding the palace are open to the public year round, the building itself is rarely open for visitors. However, every year it opens its doors during the Mercè festivities to show off its reception rooms, including the large dining room and the dome room, as well as other more curious spaces such as the impressively large kitchen. 

Make the most of a unique occasion to visit an historic building while enjoying an intimate, cultural program set in a quiet natural environment. The building is open to the public September 21, 22 & 24, 2024, 10:30-14:30, 16:00-19:30.

Cultural Activities in the Garden

In the gardens surrounding Palauet Albéniz you'll find installations, activities and shows for the whole family, including circus and theatrical performances, clown and magic shows, live music and more. The cultural activities listed below are available September 21, 22 & 24, 2024.

Installation: Pirene

Location: Espai Central, Time: 10:30-14:30, 16:00-19:30

Inspired by the highest peaks of the Pyrenees, Pirene is a wooden installation with illustrations by artist Unai Ruiz that transports us to nature at its purest through clever creations that simulate the path up or down a mountain. Like a marble machine, this complex mechanism seeks to encourage interaction with the work of art while simulating the way we connect with nature when we interact with it. This sensory creation was designed above all with children in mind!

Installation: Si fóssim flors. Un jardí curiós al mig de la ciutat

Location: Espai Sota Pins, Time: 10:30-14:30, 16:00-19:30

First they were trees, then they were cardboard and then a spell transformed them into flowers. Si fóssim flors is an exhibition show and an installation that poses the question of what it would be like if we were other beings, such as flowers.

This garden, though, is made out of sustainable, reused materials that invite us to smell, touch, observe and immerse ourselves in the space. Inspired by the book The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown, and the Garden of Earthly Delights triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, this sustainable garden calls on us to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and practice active listening and care.

Music/Theater: Majordoms i minyones

Location: Entrada Lleons, Time: 10:30-14:30, 16:00-19:30

As they usually do during the Mercè festivities, the butlers and maids at the Palauet Albèniz are setting aside their regular duties of keeping the palace spick and span to put their body and soul into trying to be artists amusing and delighting the public. This year, the Robert Gobern company will be presenting The Palauet, El Musical. 2024, which includes songs, choreographies, theater and other stage arts performed with skill and ability but, above all, some big doses of humor and lots of laughs. Join the palace staff in this surprising musical and have a great time enjoying some unforgettable musical moments!

Show: Un tros de pa (Our Daily Bread) 

Location: Espai Plaça, Time: 11:00-11:45, 16:15-17:00

Bread, a staple of so many cultures around the world, is coming to the Albéniz Palace as the star of Un tros de pa, created by Les Pinyes company. Have you ever wondered where it comes from? How it’s made? What ingredients it requires?

This show, brilliant in its simplicity, will follow a round loaf of bread on a journey that will reveal the secrets of this ancient food. Through songs, drawings and puppets, we’ll delve into a visual and sensory experience. Ready to travel backwards? The piece starts with the act of eating bread and concludes singing the praises of wheat fields. Let’s get kneading!

Dance: Sin-con-tacto

Location: Espai Panoràmic, Time: 12:00-12:30

Sin-con-tacto, created by the Liant la Troca company, is coming to this year’s Mercè Festival with a vivid and powerful exploration of the human need to express ourselves through art and movement, no matter our physical abilities. The show reflects our desire to be in contact with others and with ourselves and how, through our senses, we seek ways to form relationships with groups or with a partner. It also speaks to the need to be alone or to wait for something to happen.

Circus/Dance: La crisi de la imaginació (The crisis of imagination)

Location: Espai Mirall, Time: 12:45-13:15

How important is the power of our imagination when it comes to drawing our own path? What would happen if, one day, our imagination was to disappear?

These are some of the questions posed in La crisi de la imaginació, a contemporary circus, dance and surrealist puppet show in which two characters immerse us in a dreamlike yet tragicomic world, a show in which body movement is the protagonist in a fantastical story that questions the limits between what is and what is not possible, and makes us reflect deeply on our own personal reality.

Dance: Desferra (Remains)

Location: Espai Mirall, Time:17:30-18:00

The Miquel Barcelona company is treating the Mercè Festival to an exclusive premiere of Desferra, a different take on the apocalyptic futures to which we are doomed (or at least, that’s what seems increasingly likely).

In Desferra, the consequences of the wrongs committed by previous generations may be an opportunity to create a new context. These possible futures, however, can only become a reality if we empower new voices that can put an end to our current inertia.

Bringing together bodies, technologies and nature, this duo of dancers will use the stage to convey the importance of rebelling against what no longer works and will drive us to come up with innovative solutions.

Circus: Finestres (Windows)

Location: Espai Panoràmic, Time: 18:30-19:15

Created and performed by Martí Soler, Finestres is a generous, personal show that invites us to reflect on our way of life and the fragility of current human existence, based on the individualism of the Western world.

Bringing together different performing arts disciplines, such as circus, dance and theatre, it addresses the relationship between our inner and outer selves and how we break down these boundaries. Finestres places us in an absurd, clown-like universe in order to push us to rethink our own barriers.

Join in this exploration, based on the human body and the Cyr wheel, and let yourself be carried along the paths Soler opens up. Open the window and let the air in!

Concert: El suspiro del moro (The Moor’s Sigh)

Location: Amfiteatre, Time: 19:00-20:00

Imad Amrah (artistic name Imad Maestro) is an artist, author, composer, performer and musical producer known for his cutting-edge approach to the urban genre. This year, he’s presenting his show El suspiro del moro.

At the tender age of 17, this musician, accompanied by Peruvian percussionist Mario Cubillas, is presenting a repertoire that brings together his own songs, such as his well-known “Ya Zina”, and popular songs from Morocco, his country of origin.

The artist, who has worked with some of the leading musicians on the current scene, will give free rein to his infectious energy and virtuosity during the evenings of the Mercè Festival in the unbeatable setting of the Albéniz Palace.

What to Do for La Mercè

Celebrated in the days surrounding September 24th, the La Mercè festival program is packed with things to do and see. From parades and exhibits filled with gegants (giants), capgrossos (bigheads) and fire-breathing beasts to giant castells (human towers), traditional dances, correfocs (fire runs), drone light shows, fireworks displays and free concerts, you're sure to find something to delight and amaze you.

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). To make the most of your time, take a look at 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.

See our Guide to La Mercè for a list of the festival's events and discover the story behind one of the biggest celebrations on Barcelona's calendar and the many traditions that make this beloved Catalan holiday so special.

For more events during the Festes de la Mercè check our online events calendar.