Sagrada Família celebrates Christmas with activities for everyone - Sagrada Família celebrates Christmas with activities for everyone

This Christmas, the Sagrada Família offered a programme of religious services and events to share with the people and enjoy the Christmas spirit together.

Some of the most noteworthy activities included the Christmas workshop for children aged 6 to 12, which included a guided tour focusing on the Nativity façade and a workshop to make their own paper cut-out ornament as a souvenir. More than 1,108 kids took part in this activity over 32 sessions.

The traditional Christmas Concert was held on Friday 13 December, with 1,751 people in the audience. This year the concert featured Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès and Orfeó Català, conducted by Salvador Brotons. They performed Christmas carols and emblematic songs, inviting the audience to join them on some of the most popular ones. In order to share and enjoy the Christmas spirit together, the Basilica gave out 350 tickets for two to attend.

On Monday 16 December, there was carolling with three choirs from the Lluïsos de Gràcia association: Coral El Virolet (one group aged 7 to 9 and the other 9 to 15), and Coral Sinera (ages 15 to 25). With a repertoire of traditional carols from Catalonia and around the world, the event drew roughly a thousand people.

From 20 to 22 December, the Basilica lit up the Nativity façade with music and storytelling, highlighting the sculpture groups of the Nativity, the Adoration of the shepherds and the Adoration of the Magi. The sessions were in Catalan and Spanish and 36,800 people came out to see them.

On 24 December at 7:00 pm, the Sagrada Família hosted Midnight mass for the little ones to celebrate Christmas. The service was led by Mons. David Abadías, Auxiliary Bishop of Barcelona, and afterwards the mass-goers went outside for the adoration of the Baby Jesus on the Nativity façade. There were 47,680 people at the mass.

Finally, from 27 to 31 December, the Basilica took part in the Festival de la Infància (Children’s Festival), where kids got to build scale prototypes of the central towers of the Sagrada Família with 3D printed pieces and put together models of the building’s new profile. With this activity, more than 950 children got to be builders for a day.

Once again this year, the Christmas programme made the Sagrada Família a gathering place for everyone to celebrate the holidays.