BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 14 — The Spanish city of Barcelona on Friday announced Shanghai as the guest city for its 2026 La Merce festival, marking the first time an Asian city has been invited to assume the role.
La Merce, Barcelona’s largest annual city festival, will take place on Sept. 23-27 in 2026. Since 2007, the festival has adopted the tradition of inviting a guest city each year to showcase its cultural identity.
Shanghai will become the first city from Asia to participate in that capacity. Xavier Marce, Barcelona City Councilor for Culture and Creative Industries, described the Barcelona-Shanghai relationship as “strategic,” noting that the two cities are connected through multiple channels, particularly in culture and creative industries.
The 2026 edition will carry added symbolic weight as Barcelona and Shanghai mark the 25th anniversary of their sister-city relationship.
The 2026 La Merce festival is expected to feature a diverse program highlighting both contemporary and traditional elements of Shanghai’s culture, further deepening cultural ties between the metropolis in east China and Barcelona. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
