To the sea or to the mountain? There are traditional nativity scenes on both sides of the city, more specifically in Plaça de Sant Jaume and Monestir de Pedralbes. If you are followers of the tradition of representing the magical moment of the birth of baby Jesus, don’t miss these two proposals of Barcelona’s Christmas.

You may be used to seeing the traditional nativity scene created every Christmas by the Associació de Pessebristes de Barcelona at the Frederic Marès Museum (pictured. Photo: Xavi Torrent; 2023). This year, there will again be one, but it has changed location. You won’t see it in the museum, but in the Carriage Courtyard of the Barcelona City Hall building in Plaça de Sant Jaume, between 29 November and 5 January. Be sure to pay close attention, because this year it is a special one.

This representation of the Nativity is, as we say, a taste of the sea. There is a double reason for this: it reminds us of the America’s Cup, which has been the protagonist of the city’s sporting life until a few weeks ago, and, especially, it is a tribute to a poet who died in 1924, a hundred years ago. This poet is Joan Salvat-Papasseit who, as you may already know, often spoke of the port of Barcelona in his poems. In fact, he has had a monument in the Port Vell since 1992, which is the work of the Luxemburg artist Robert Krier. 

Papasseit and the sea, are the protagonists of this traditional nativity scene, inspired by the life of the avant-garde poet. His father was an engine driver on a ship. When the father died, the mother took him to the Asil Naval, an orphanage on a ship moored in the port. The fruit of his first work as a night watchman are some of his poems set in the docks.

The sea is therefore the centre around which a nativity scene revolves, which also includes references to Sant Francesc who, according to legend, would have stayed at what was known as the Convent of Sant Francesc or Framenors, located until 1837 on the Barcelona coastline.

The design of the nativity scene that we will see in the Carriage Courtyard is the work, as we said, of the Association of Nativity Scene Makers of Barcelona and includes emblematic scenes such as the Nativity, the Annunciation and the path of the Kings. You will also find the aforementioned allusion to Saint Francis and, of course, the traditional figure of the caganer. The floral decoration of the nativity scene is the work of the team of the Floral Art Decorator speciality of the Barcelona Nature Professional School of Barcelona Activa.

But this nativity scene that tastes of the sea is not the only traditional one you can visit in Barcelona. Go to Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes and you can see another one that is there every Christmas. We are talking about the dioramas that can be visited in the enclosure, the space where, in the past, the monastic community kept the harvest, the grain and the tools.

Today, you will not see products from the countryside, but Christmas scenes, also created with the collaboration of the Associació de Pessebristes de Barcelona. You can see two dioramas that reproduce the Nativity scene and the adoration of the Kings of Orient. The figures are the work of the sculptor Montserrat Ribes and the Castell brothers, well-known artisans with a family tradition.

They are two good ways of reviving a tradition that, they say, was born eight hundred years ago (they were celebrated on Christmas last year), by the hand of Saint Francis of Assisi, who created the first representation of the birth of Christ using figurines.

If you want to experience a Christmas of a lifetime, you can’t miss the traditional nativity scenes located in the Town Hall’s Carriage Courtyard and the Monastery of Pedralbes, but first check the full programme of the Christmas festivities on the Barcelona City Council’s website.