Over the last few years. Barcelona City Council has published a series of books that, from very different perspectives, offer an insight into the city’s popular culture. They include a diverse range of publications: guides for explaining to tourists how we celebrate our festivals, a book that explores the unseen giant heritage hidden away in Barcelona’s schools, and a pamphlet that explains absolutely everything about the City’s Giants: the history, the meaning of their attributes, etc.

There are also many publications that focus on the history of a specific event in the city. So, you can delve into the history of the Nit de Sant Joan from a range of perspectives, learn about the century-old links between Barcelona and the sardana popular dance and discover that there was a rich and lively cultural association movement in Barcelona in the 19th century.

Barcelona Festes / Festivals / Fiestas. Author: Teresa Duran Armengol. Published jointly with Triangle Postals. The people of Barcelona love festivals. We construct them, live them with great intensity, they are the height of expression of public life; in short, we enjoy them. With this book, you can also enjoy the vitality of Barcelona’s traditional festivals that take place in the streets all year round.

Els gegantons de les escoles de Barcelona.Author: Nico Alonso. This book about the gegantons, or small giants, is a guide to Barcelona through the figures that form part of the city’s schools. From neighbourhood to neighbourhood, district to district, you will discover the city through the giants, dragons, dwarves, mythical creatures and horse riders that have been created by the children of Barcelona. This book is also a game, because the giant Laia is not where she should be and you have to guess where she is.

La nit de Sant Joan a Barcelona.Authors: Roger Canals, Amadeu Carbó Martorell, Xavier Cazeneuve, Marta Contijoch, Manuel Delgado Ruiz, Albert Torras. Published jointly with Angle Editorial. There is no doubt that the night of San Joan, linked to the summer solstice and with ancestral origins, is the most magical night of the year. Also in Barcelona, with documents that mention the festival dating back to the 15th century. This is the first book that covers the full history of the festival in the city. Past, present and future of the festival, thanks to the best experts and previously unpublished images.

La sardana a Barcelona.An historical journey.Author: Jesús Ventura Barnet. This publication delves into the history of this Catalan dance and its music in Barcelona during a period of over 150 years. It includes its origins, its arrival in the city and all it has represented throughout all those years, contextualised with the events that were going on in Catalan society and the Catalan capital. This tour, far from ending on a recap of the past, aims to reach the present day and offer a reflection on the meaning of the sardana in the 21st century.

El llibre dels gegants de la ciutat.Author: Amadeu Carbó Martorell. A suggestive approach to the history of the giants of Barcelona. Aimed both at enthusiasts and the general public, the book combines the rigorous characteristics of a research paper with a lighter, anecdotal air, to become an essential tool for spreading the word about the giant tradition.

La Barcelona irreverent. De la Societat del Born al Niu Guerrer (1858-1910).Quaderns del Museu Frederic Marés / 16.Authors: Ernest Ortoll, Jordi Pablo, Pilar Vélez Vicente. A reflection on the 19th century popular festival in Barcelona, based on a study of the cultural association movement and particularly two of the eras major recreational associations: the Societat del Born (1858-1873) and the Niu Guerrer (1874-1936).