Barcelona’s La Mercè correfoc will open through its largest ever Hell Gate on Passeig de Gràcia on Saturday 26 September 2026, with a 14-metre-wide, seven-metre-high installation by artist Daniel Esteban.
The structure is designed to occupy the full width of Passeig de Gràcia. Residents, visitors and others planning to watch or move through the avenue during the correfoc will find the gateway at the start of the fire-run event, where the participating colles de diables, or devil groups, pass through it.
According to Betevé, the installation contains about 1,000 fragmented human forms, including arms, feet, torsos and legs. The figures have no faces or identifying features and are combined into a single mass.
A three-part gateway for the correfoc
The Hell Gate has three elements:
- An outer arch made from interwoven bodies.
- A narrower, semi-circular inner arch about 50 centimetres wide, intended as a transition space.
- An approximately 11-metre-wide vertically folding curtain, which is gathered at the top once opened.
Most of the body parts are made of polyester resin, with ceramic details placed within the structure.
“The artwork starts from a vision of hell linked to the fatigue, apathy, homogenisation and overexposure to violence that characterise much of contemporary experience.”Daniel Esteban, quoted by Betevé
Esteban said popular culture and collective organisation could be a response to that fatigue and apathy. The gateway has been created specifically for its installation on Passeig de Gràcia during the 2026 La Mercè correfoc.
Primary sources: barcelona.cat. Reported by beteve.cat, Joan Antoni Guerrero Vall, events.europa.tips, El Nacional (CA), catalannews.com, El Periódico, particle.news, Betevé.
