Barcelona Nativity Scenes: City Pessebre, Caganers and Midnight Mass

Barcelona’s official nativity scene (pessebre) is no longer out in Plaça de Sant Jaume: since 2024 the city has shown a traditional pessebre, built by the Associació de Pessebristes de Barcelona, inside City Hall’s carriage courtyard on the square, free and without booking. The 2026 dates had not been announced by 11 November 2026; in 2025 it opened from 13 December to 5 January.

Where is the city nativity scene in 2026?

For many years the Ajuntament (city council) put up its pessebre in the middle of Plaça de Sant Jaume, the square shared by City Hall and the Palau de la Generalitat. Modern designs in some years drew criticism, and in 2021 the city replaced the square’s pessebre with an artistic installation and showed traditional scenes elsewhere. The square itself has had no nativity scene since 2024:

• 2024: a large illuminated star stood in the square, and a 24 m² traditional pessebre was set up inside City Hall.
• 2025: a light show on the facades of City Hall and the Palau de la Generalitat, a Christmas tree of about 15 meters in a corner of the square, and a pessebre of almost 70 m² inside City Hall’s pati de carruatges (carriage courtyard), entered from the main door at Plaça de Sant Jaume, 1.

As of 11 November 2026, the Ajuntament had not published its plans for the square or the indoor pessebre for this Christmas. In 2025 it opened on 13 December, three weeks after the Christmas lights went on; in 2026 the lights come on from 26 November. Check the city’s Christmas website from late November.

What did the 2025 pessebre look like, and when was it open?

More than twenty members of the Associació de Pessebristes de Barcelona started building the 2025 scene in May. It set the biblical story in the mountains of the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, with rivers, valleys and slate roofs made of moss, soil, sand and plants, and a mill wheel that turned constantly. Its scenes included the Annunciation to the shepherds, the journey of the Magi, the Nativity, the flight into Egypt and Joseph’s workshop in Nazareth. Among the figures were a fisherman, a mushroom picker and, of course, a caganer.

The 2025 opening hours, according to the Ajuntament’s announcement, give a good idea of what to expect:

What is the caganer, and where can you buy one?

The caganer is a small figure of a peasant squatting with his trousers down, traditionally wearing the red Catalan cap (barretina) and hidden behind a bush or a tree at the edge of the scene. According to the city’s Christmas pages, he first appeared in the Baroque period and belongs to the nativity scenes of Catalonia and the Valencia region. He is believed to bring good luck, and a common reading is that he fertilizes the earth for the coming year. Children search for him in every pessebre they visit.

Today’s caganers also come with the faces of politicians, footballers, musicians and other famous people, alongside the classic shepherd. To buy one:

• Fira de Santa Llúcia. Barcelona’s Christmas fair in front of the Cathedral, which usually runs from late November to 23 December, has stalls selling nativity figures, moss, cork and caganers of every size. See our guide to the Fira de Santa Llúcia for this year’s details.
• Souvenir and craft shops in the old town also stock them in the weeks before Christmas.
• Exhibitions: in 2025 the Casa dels Entremesos, on Plaça de les Beates, showed a private collection of caganers and ran a caganer-painting workshop.

Which other nativity scenes can you visit?

The city’s Christmas program lists dozens of pessebres in churches, markets and civic centers. These central ones were open in the 2025 season; 2026 dates follow the same pattern but should be checked:

Several municipal markets, including Santa Caterina and the Clot market, also set up pessebres among the stalls, and Gràcia’s Espai Albert Musons has shown both a monumental traditional pessebre and a Playmobil one. Living nativity scenes (pessebres vivents), performed by local groups, take place in several neighborhoods and are listed in the city’s Christmas program.

Who are the Associació de Pessebristes de Barcelona?

The Associació de Pessebristes de Barcelona is Barcelona’s historic society of nativity-scene makers. The Ajuntament’s popular culture office dates its origins to the mid-19th century (1858 or 1860), when it was founded as the Societat Pessebrista de Barcelona; it was reconstituted in 1921. It runs courses, talks and an annual competition for young people aged 10 to 21, and keeps a collection of figures, posters and prints at its center on Carrer de Lledó. In 1952 it pushed for a world federation of nativity-scene makers, set up at an international congress held in Barcelona that year; the city hosted later congresses in 1957, 2002 and 2012. The city’s page on the association has more on its history.

When is the Missa del Gall at Barcelona Cathedral?

The Missa del Gall (midnight Mass) is celebrated at midnight on 24 December in Barcelona Cathedral. In recent years, the Cor Francesc Valls choir has sung the Cant de la Sibil·la, a medieval chant about the end of the world, late in the evening before the Mass. The choir revived it at the Cathedral in 2009, after an absence of more than four centuries; in 2025 it was sung at about 22:30. Other churches, such as the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, also hold Christmas Eve services with the chant. Arrive well before the start if you want a seat, and check the Cathedral’s own schedule for 2026. For everything else on the Christmas calendar, from the street lights to the Three Kings, see our Christmas in Barcelona guide.

Bottom line

Combine the City Hall pessebre, the Cathedral cloister and the Santa Llúcia stalls in one visit: all three are within about five minutes’ walk of each other. Go on a weekday morning soon after the city pessebre opens, when the old town is quieter than at weekends, and if you want a particular caganer, buy it early in the fair’s run.

FAQ

Is the Plaça de Sant Jaume nativity scene free?

Yes. In 2025 entry to the city pessebre inside City Hall was free and needed no booking.

Is there still a nativity scene in the square itself?

Not in 2024 or 2025, when the pessebre was moved indoors. The 2026 plans for the square had not been announced by 11 November.

Why does a Catalan nativity scene include a pooping figure?

The caganer is a Baroque-era tradition linked to good luck and the fertility of the land. Finding him hidden in the scene is part of the fun for children.

When do Catalan families set up their pessebre at home?

Many families set it up in the first half of December and take it down after Three Kings Day on 6 January. Traditionally it stays until Candlemas on 2 February, which is why many public pessebres remain open until then.