Madrid this Friday turned on its Christmas lights in an act celebrated in style in the Plaza de España, where a multitude of people witnessed the lighting of the large 18-meter fir tree placed for the occasion in a party that the capital has baptized as the of the "reunion".

It was the first event organized in the recently remodeled Plaza de España since its reopening last Monday, and the City Council wanted to turn it into a whole party, with live music, fireworks and a countdown as if it were New Year's Eve.

The lighting on the street and with the public has also been recovered in this way, because last year, due to the pandemic, the City Council organized this event in a 'virtual' format, from the Cibeles palace.

After the initial performance of the Madrid Youth Choir, the artist and singer Carolina Cerezuela has served as master of ceremonies, and has celebrated the opportunity to "recover the illusion".

Then he sung the song 'If I was in Madrid' with the musician Jaime Anglada, with whom he forms the duo Anglada y Cerezuela.

The Gran Vía, with the Christmas lights.JAVIER BARBANCHO

Then the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, took the stage, showing off not wearing a coat, who had a dialogue with Cerezuela before pressing the power button.

In memory

"Christmas is very important, because it allows us to look back and keep in mind all those who are no longer here," declared the councilor, who added: "On the memory of those who are no longer, let's build the best future of the city of Madrid ".

In addition, Almeida has encouraged citizens to "get ahead all together" from the coronavirus crisis.

"The situation is going to be very complicated, but the spirit of Madrid never gives up," he assured.

Then the mayor invited the representatives of the municipal groups to come up to the lectern, who, like the majority of government councilors, were at the event, many of them accompanied by their families.

Thus, the spokespersons for Vox (Javier Ortega Smith) and the mixed group (Marta Higueras), as well as the councilors Maysoun Douas (Más Madrid) and Natalia Cera (PSOE) and the delegate for Territorial Coordination (Silvia Saavedra, from Cs), they have joined hands with Almeida's to press the button that turned on the lights, after a countdown chanted throughout the square.

A salvo of confetti and fireworks has accompanied the moment of lighting the lighting, which has several of its main landmarks in the Plaza de España, such as the aforementioned fir tree or a large figurative nativity scene.

To finish off the evening, Almeida and several of his councilors have boarded one of the Naviluz buses made available to the media to tour the illuminated streets, and took advantage of the walk to greet the crowd left and right from the top floor of the vehicle .

Until next January 6, 11 million led bulbs distributed in 230 locations will illuminate the capital.

With a budget of 3.6 million euros, those of this year are conceived by the Consistory as "the lights of the reactivation", a lighting designed to promote commerce, hotels, restaurants and tourism in the city and to to convey a message of encouragement and hope to locals and visitors after more than a year and a half very complicated by the pandemic.

Trees and lights

In addition to the typical arches that cross the streets from side to side, throughout the city there are almost 6,700 chains of light, which is equivalent to about 147 kilometers, 118 cherry trees and 13 large luminous fir trees.

A great novelty is the lighting, for the first time, of the Retiro Park, while the figurative nativity scenes of the historical gates of the city (Alcalá, Toledo or San Vicente) and the great luminous ball at the confluence of Alcalá streets remain. and Gran Vía.

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