Thousands turn the rainy weekend into a celebration of culture
High attendances at festivals devoted to museums, flowers and local history ensure another great year for major cultural events in cities around Catalonia
It was a weekend of culture all over Catalonia, with people turning out in their thousands for major festivals in Barcelona, Girona, and Tarragona, and other cities around the country.
In and around Barcelona on Saturday night, more than 168,000 people took part in the annual Night of the Museums, when museums opened their doors for free from 7pm to 1am.
Meanwhile, Girona's Time of Flowers festival, in which courtyards and patios in the northern city are festooned with flowers, drew over 250,000 visitors in its nine days of displays.
In Tarragona in the south, the 21st edition of the Tarraco Viva festival, which celebrates the city's Roman heritage, came to a close after holding more than 420 events over two weeks.
Museums open their doors
Every year, museums and cultural venues in and around Barcelona dedicate a night of free entry and complimentary activities to coincide with International Museum Day.
The venues that drew the most visits were Barcelona's Sant Pau Modernist complex (13,675 visitors), the MACBA modern art gallery (10,958), and the MUHBA history museum (10,854).
Thousands of people also visited 16 museum venues outside Barcelona, in nearby towns like Badalona (5,387), Sant Joan Despí (1,010) and Esplugues de Llobregat (1,219).
Girona in bloom
The 64th edition of Girona's Temps de Flors flower festival was also an outstanding success, drawing 255,000 people to admire the displays in public and private spots all over the city.
Most of the visitors to the festival – some 64% – were from Catalonia and other parts of Spain, with 17% from nearby France, and the rest coming from other foreign countries.
The organizers of the event, which this year had 171 displays in 137 venues, said they were satisfied because attendance had risen during the week, and not just at the weekend.
Recreating Roman times
Tarragona brought its Tarraco Viva festival to an end on Sunday with a reconstruction of a Roman election in front of 500 people in the city's convention center.
It was the conclusion of two weeks of 427 Roman-related events, including other recreations, roundtable debates, talks, workshops, food events and guided visits.
As this year's festival came to an end, the organizers announced that the 22nd edition in 2020 would revolve around the themes of work and food in Roman times.