Festival of Lights

The Festival of Lights ( English , "Lights Festival") is an international series of events and a registered trademark . The Festival of Lights Berlin is one of the most famous light festivals worldwide. It is a free event in Berlin that takes place annually in October and elaborately stages well-known Berlin sights for 10 days through illuminations , light art projections and 3D mappings . Buildings, streets and squares are illuminated, for example the Brandenburg Gate , the television tower , the Berlin Cathedral or the Victory Column .

history

The first event took place in 2005.

The initiators and organizers of the festival until 2009 were the City Foundation Berlin, Union Investment Real Estate AG , lighting designer Andreas Boehlke and festival organizer Birgit Zander with her agency Zander & Partner Event Marketing. Birgit Zander and her agency Zander & Partner have been the sole producer of the Festival of Lights since 2010; The organizer is the FOL Festival Of Lights International Productions GmbH .

In 2008 the light festival opened on October 14th with the light fountain show Flames of Water in front of the Humboldt University in Berlin-Mitte . The light artists had illuminated 49 landmarks and squares in Berlin or provided them with effective projections. The steeples of the Nikolaikirche in the city center were illuminated in white for the first time, reminding of the legend of Elector Johann Sigismund's escape from a white woman from his castle in the Nikolaiviertel in the 17th century. A light clock on the Marx-Engels-Forum with a diameter of 60 meters was entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest in the world . For runners there was a light run on a 7.5 kilometer long route along many illuminated buildings. Museums, theaters, embassies and traditional businesses organized activities on the subject of lighting effects in an open door night .

Each Festival of Lights has its own motto. As part of the World Championship of Projection Mapping , numerous artists from all over the world skillfully stage their visions in 3D video mappings. So also in 2017 under the motto Creating Tomorrow at the Berlin Cathedral . One of the program items of the 13th Festival Of Lights was the special democracy prize , in which video artists from all over the world took part. Their works were shown at Bellevue Palace. The award ceremony was opened by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. In addition, there was a 360 ° staging for the first time at Bebelplatz with a 3D video mapping for the 275th anniversary of the Berlin State Opera. Also for the first time there was a 3D video mapping on the old town house, which was opened by Oscar winner Julianne Moore . The 13th Festival of Lights in 2017 was seen by 3.2 million visitors.

The Festival of Lights On Tour has already taken place in New York, Toronto, Luxembourg, Bucharest, Zagreb, Moscow, Beijing, Zwickau and Jerusalem.

Similar events

In addition to the Festival of Lights, the Berlin Leuchtet event has also been held in Berlin since 2013 . This usually starts earlier and lasts longer than the Festival of Lights. It is organized together with one of its original light artists, Andreas Boehlke. Almost 500 city buildings are involved.

Since 2012 there has been the Amsterdam Light Festival in Amsterdam , which follows a similar concept.

In England, the Artichoke agency organizes similar light festivals, first in Durham in 2009 , and Lumiere London has been illuminating the capital since 2013 .

While most of the light festivals at which buildings are illuminated are inspired by the Berlin event, the Fête des Lumières in Lyon has older roots. It goes back to celebrations in honor of the Virgin Mary, which go back to the Middle Ages, and led to the fact that pre-Christmas lights were put up in the windows of the citizens every year from December 8th. The erection of a statue of the Virgin Mary in 1852 brought many people to the streets, which is seen as the first city-organized festival of lights in Lyon. From 1989, the city council approved additional lighting for urban monuments, and in 1999 these were animated for four days with moving images for the first time. The event drew three million visitors in 2010.