Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations in Barcelona will be dark this year due to the energy crisis. Therefore, during this period, the lighting will be reduced by one hour, i.e. the lights will be turned off at 10 p.m. on weekdays.
What to do in Barcelona at Christmas
During weekends the lights will only be on until 11:00 p.m.
The decision to reduce lighting by one hour a day was taken by the City Council, the trade and restaurant associations.
After the last two years of pandemic Christmases, the holidays of 2022 will not be restricted by Covid, but by inflation and the energy crisis.
Lighting is reduced by one hour: the schedules
It is worth mentioning that the first day the lights will be put into operation in Barcelona will be November 24, 2022 at 6:30 pm until January 6, 2023.
Thus, the schedules will be as follows:
- From Sunday through Thursday, the lights will be on from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
- Friday through Saturday, from 5:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
- For New Year’s Eve and the eve of Epiphany, the lighting will be turned off at one o’clock in the morning. On Christmas Eve at 0 hours.
With this restriction, the total number of Christmas lights on in previous years will be reduced from 259 hours to 217 hours.
For her part, Montserrat Ballarín, Councilor for Commerce, Markets and Consumer Affairs, justified the decision by stating that in the context of the current energy crisis, measures must be taken to save energy during the Christmas lighting.
The initiative is necessary to favor the commercial sector, one of the hardest hit by the economic crisis. The regulatory decree providing for the reduction of working hours must be approved by the Government Commission.
Street shows return for Christmas and New Year’s Eve
A total investment in Christmas lighting of about 2.3 million euros is foreseen. On the other hand, the Consistory has pointed out that Barcelona has always been committed to energy sustainability since years ago.
The Barcelona City Council has been working to ensure that all the lights in the city are LED bulbs, which consume less energy.
New Year’s Eve lights and lighting designs
For this Christmas there will be continuity in the lighting designs. In fact, the lighting installations that were premiered last year by Antoni Arola’s studio will return to Plaça de Catalunya, Carrer Aragó and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes.
Arola was the designer who won the competition organized by the City Council to make the lighting an icon of Barcelona.
The lighting of Plaça Urquinaona, Avinguda del Paral-lel, Via Laietana and the municipal markets will also be continued.
