Every year, for four days in September, locals and tourists flock to one of Barcelona’s biggest events, La Mercè Festival. It got its beginnings in 1687 when Barcelona was suffering from a plague of locusts. In desperation, city officials voted to ask for the assistance of La Mare de Déu de la Mercè (the Virgin of Mercy). Eventually, having been delivered from the pestilence, the officials named the Virgin of Mercy the patroness of Barcelona, and an annual festival has been celebrated in her honor in the city ever since.
Barcelona bids farewell to summer
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Observing World Braille Day in Bavaria
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Remembering Krakatoa
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It’s World Migratory Bird Day
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Kinder Scout, Peak District National Park, England
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World Art Day
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47 years of Badlands National Park
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World Space Week
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Jöriseen lakes in the Silvretta Alps, Switzerland
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Fly me to the moon
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Over and under the delta
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Winter in the Wild West
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Take the stairs
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Heri es-Swani in Meknes, Morocco
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National Lighthouse Day
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Anniversary of the British Museum
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Happy New Year! (Again!)
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National Frog Month
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Happy trees = Clean air
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Happy Astronomy Day!
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Mountain mists over Bavaria
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River otters at Acadia National Park, Maine
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‘The memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever’
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Lupine fields, Snæfellsnes, Iceland
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A day to celebrate teachers
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Borovets ski resort in Bulgaria
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Falling for Rioja
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Giant kelp in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
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National Park Service Founders Day
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Adorable activism
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And they’re off!
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