Sant Jordi - More love than ever

Every April 23, the feast of Saint George (Sant Jordi in Catalan language), the day of the Patron Saint of Catalonia, Spain is celebrated with great enthusiasm and joy in order to perpetuate this tradition that is based on love and culture. Since 2016, Casa Batlló, a house-museum and a UNESCO World Heritage site in Barcelona, created the tradition of decorating its balconies with huge red roses, becoming a world-class event.

In 2020, in the the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lock-down in Spain we asked ourselves How can we be left without St. George Day, if we have more love than ever? Thus, we did a call to action to reinvent the Casa Batlló decoration of balconies through the empowering of citizens to decorate their balcotines with homemade "roses" with recycled materials. This shift served on one hand as an entertainment for children and as a stress relief for adults while keeping the celebration spirit alive.

This initiative was in line with UNESCO's call for World Heritage sites to make actions to reduce the negative effects of global lockdown.

In the context of this crisis, as part of the Communication Campaign, Casa Batlló joined the local Red Cross Association to give visibility to the project "Promotion of School Success in Children in Social Difficulty" and to reach hundreds of homes in Catalonia with books for children and youth. This solidarity action was justify on the historical relationship of Casa Batlló with NGOs as part of its Coporate Social Responsibility. Since the 23rd of April is the International Books Day, it is a tradition in Catalonia to give books as gifts on Saint George Day.

As a result of the campaign, thousands of people all around Catalonia and abroad shared their pictures and videos of their roses at the balconies using the hashtag #TotsFemSantJordi (We All Do St. George) Then, we created a video to say thank you and included hundreds of their images creating a historical testimony of an unforgettable St. George Day Celebration.