Sant Jordi will return to the streets next Tuesday, which will become authentic open-air bookstores and will be dyed crimson by the roses. It will be the first time since the pandemic that the celebration falls on a weekday, but a record-breaking edition is still expected. In Barcelona there will be 336 book stalls – 16 more than last year –, 214 author signing tables and a total route of 3,356 meters where the different rose and book stalls will be located. But the city also hosts several cultural activities these days that enrich the celebration of April 23. We review the spaces enabled for stops and some of the proposals as a guide.
This year the Rambla is completely recovered, which will be filled with stalls from Canaletes to Santa Mònica. In this way, there will be more than three practically uninterrupted kilometers of books and roses, from Gran de Gràcia to Colom. On La Rambla there will be a total of 94 stalls, which will be added to those in Plaza Catalunya and will connect with the literary superblock of Passeig de Gràcia. The avenue will be filled from end to end with bookstores and florists and will also host a large part of the book signings. The adjacent streets of Diputació, Consell de Cent, Mallorca, Provença, Rosselló and Còrsega, between Balmes and Pau Claris, are part of the large literary block. There will also be stops on two sections of Diagonal Avenue, in Plaça Reial and in Plaça Universitat.
Sant Jordi will expand this year throughout the city until it reaches seven districts. The Sant Jordi superblock will connect with stops at the Jardinets de Salvador Espriu and Gran de Gràcia street (to Travessera de Gràcia), as well as Pla de Salmerón and Plaza de la Vila. Paseo de Sant Joan to Paseo de Lluís Companys is maintained as an axis dedicated to family audiences, especially comics, graphic novels and children’s and youth literature. In Les Corts there will be nine stalls, on the Rambla del Poblenou there will be eight, in the Plaza de Orfila de Sant Andreu there will be five, and there will also be in the gardens of the Rambla de Sants, in the Plaza de Sarrià and in front of the Gabriel Library García Márquez, in Sant Martí.
On April 23, as is tradition, several emblematic buildings of the city will be opened to the public. The Palau de la Generalitat, the Sant Pau modernist complex, the Mies van der Rohe pavilion, the Palau Güell, the Ateneu Barcelonès, the Fundación Photographic Social Vision, the Institut d’Estudis Catalans and the Library of Catalonia. Likewise, you can visit the Museum of History of Catalonia and the Museum of Archeology of Catalonia for free. The visit to the Sagrada Familia, together with a companion, and to the Mirador de Colom monument will be free for Georges and Jordines. Barcelona City Hall will open to the public this Sunday.
For music lovers, on the eve of April 23, the second edition of La nit de les roses will be held in the La Paloma room. Mishima, David Carabén’s band, will star in the poetic-musical evening with the writers Mireia Calafell, Jordi Puntí, Blanca Llum Vidal and Pol Guasch. And the Old Factory of Estrella Damm will host the Sant Jordi Musical on Tuesday, with concerts throughout the day by artists such as Els Amics de les Arts, Figa Flawas, Lildami, Blaumut or La Fúmiga, among others. Entrance to the enclosure is free.
Beyond these proposals, on April 22 the great literary festival will kick off with the proclamation of Reading, by the writer David Williams and hosted by the Born Center de Cultura i Memòria. On Tuesday morning the traditional writers’ breakfast will take place at the Palau de la Virreina. Starting on Saturday, the Trobada d’Editorials Independents will take place in Poble Sec, with performances, round tables, readings and workshops. The façade of Casa Batlló will be filled with roses for another year and, for film lovers, the Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival, better known as BCN Film Fest, will be held until April 26.
