From Jujol to innovations in wood: the highlights of the world capital of architecture
In 2026, Barcelona will host more than 200 activities on the city's heritage and future challenges for ten months.
BarcelonaBarcelona City Council begins to reveal the activities of Barcelona will be declared World Capital of Architecture in 2026For ten months, between the days of Saint Eulalia and Saint Lucia, Barcelona will be the "world epicenter of architecture" with more than 200 proposals and some 1,500 activities, including around fifty exhibitions, 268 routes and guided tours, and 85 events in the neighborhood and Buhigas. "The goal is for citizens to put on an architect's glasses and understand the transformations in their surroundings," Collboni said, quoting Buhigas. The mayor also noted how the events will highlight areas of Barcelona undergoing rapid transformation by 2035, including the station and the Sagrera neighborhood, Montjuïc Mountain, and the coastline, from the port of Barcelona to the Fòrum.
The official kick-off will be on February 12th, the day of Santa Eulàlia, with a major institutional event and a series of events in the city's ten districts. The closing ceremony will take place on December 13th. The organizers of the capital's status, which has a budget of more than 11 million euros, want it to leave a physical legacy, which will take the form of a large model of Barcelona and the renovation of a dozen party walls.
Major exhibitions of Jujol and the master of Cabestany
The MNAC will host two of the highlights of the capital's exhibitions: a major exhibition on Josep Maria Jujol curated by Perejaume and another on the master of Cabestany and the lost Romanesque portal of the Sant Pere de Rodes monastery, a project by Professor Manuel Castiñeiras that the museum announced a few years ago.
Among the exhibitions, the former headquarters of the Gustavo Gili publishing house will host Barcelona: intense, diverse and complex, on the dynamism of the city based on the relationships between the population and the urban fabric; Nicolau Rubió and Tudurí. Architecture, landscape, controversies will be seen at the Museum of Ethnography and World Cultures, and Sanity and Passion: 150 Years of Catalan Architecture, on the best of Catalan architecture since the founding of the School of Architecture in 1875, will be held at the DHub. You can also see Award-winning architecture. 125 years of the Architecture Awards, a retrospective of the FAD awards, at the Barcelona History Museum; Picasso. The architect, at the Picasso Museum; an exhibition on Responses to the major challenges of metropolitan public space and, at the Maritime Museum, another exhibition on The construction of the metropolitan territory (1859-2023).
Regarding routes and guided tours, the 48h Open House Barcelona association plans to organize three fifteen-day events in Nou Barris, Sants-Montjuïc, and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi to explore their architectural and social heritage. The routes will also focus on wooden architecture and the transformation of the headquarters of the College of Technical Architects of Catalonia.
As world capital, Barcelona is taking over from Copenhagen. This celebration is promoted by Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat (Catalan Government), the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda, and involves the participation of some 170 entities. In parallel, the city will host a new edition of the World Congress of the International Union of Architects from June 28 to July 2. The Generalitat (Catalan Government) will also organize the commemorative events for the centenary of Antoni Gaudí's death.
