Europe’s light festivals

Europe’s most famous light festival - and the inspiration for many others - began as a 17th-century candlelit procession to celebrate the city’s survival of an outbreak of the Plague. In the 1850s, flooding and storms prevented the celebrations and people responded by lighting candles in their windows to show they were keeping faith. Now the ritual has evolved into a four-day festival in which candles are joined by 50-plus illuminations around the city’s medieval streets and UNESCO-listed buildings. As you’d excpect, the son et lumière is very strong, and the emphasis on creativity, from a light show controlled by a pianist’s finger movements to a neon dove flying above the River Saône, is lovely.

8-11 December 2022, fetedeslumieres.lyon.fr/en Photo: Johanna Buguet on Unsplash

A stroll through a field of Van Gogh sunflowers and alien encounters are two Glow experiences of recent years. The displays are always technically innovative as well as dazzling since the Dutch city has a long connection with electricity - it is known nationally as Lichstad (the City of Light). Philips invented the light bulb here in 1891. And cutting-edge research into electricity and lighting takes place at various local businesses and institutes. In this year’s theme Urban Skin, 30+ artists will work to transform the city centre into a ‘moving body that GLOW invents and covers with art’.

12-19 November 2022, gloweindhoven.nl/en/. Photo: Maaike Hage, Wikimedia Commons

People arrive at Lux, in Helsinki’s city centre, by sledge and on skis. There’s special meaning to this Finnish celebration of light during its frozen months when darkness rules all but a handful of hours a day and nighttime temperatures plummet to -20C. Some 500,000 visitors take in a cool, thoughtful urban art trail that passes the city’s landmark cathedral and the Baltic Sea’s frozen edges. Recent works have included a ‘light essay’ on endangered snow leopards and a reinterpretation of the Aurora Borealis - during which there was every chance the actual Northern Lights might shimmy across the skies to get in on the action.

4-8 January 2023, luxhelsinki.fi. Photo: Petri Anttila, luxhelsinki.fi

The UK’s unique contribution to Europe’s ‘light entertainment’ are events held around its historic estates and gardens. In north London, Christmas At Kenwood House, a 17th-century manor managed by English Heritage, makes a good choice, not least because you can book a festive meal for afterwards in one of Hampstead’s historic pubs such as The Flask. In an hour-long trail, leafy avenues that normally swarm with dog walkers transform into a frozen fairytale while Kenwood House, which played a dignified role in the movie Notting Hill, becomes edible, wrap-able and completely adorable.

2 December 2022-3 January 2023, christmasatkenwood.com. Photo: A Trip Up My Sleeve

Europe’s biggest light festival has been held in the Danish capital since 2018. Like its European counterparts Paris and Prague, Copenhagen has come to appreciate the boosted tourist numbers and extra sparkle that celebrations of light bring. It uses it very effectively as a backdrop for other cultural events and to increase appreciation of its historic buildings and harbour. A recurring artwork Green Beam sends a laser light to connect key parts of the city. Others speak to local residents about the Scandi experience, such as Jam, which ‘painted’ the elegant pedestrian-and-cycle crossing Lille Langebro Bridge the colour of berries on straw, to evoke memories of summer.

3-26 February 2023; copenhagenlightfestival.org. Photo: News Oresund, Wikimedia Commons

Expect enlightened thinking in Berlin this year where brains have been mulling over how to balance its Festival of Light with the current fuel crisis. The solution has been to place sustainability at its heart with a pledge to use 75 per cent less energy. This will be achieved using a shorter route and lighting times, but not compromising on impact as there’ll be an increased number of engaging artworks. Under the theme Vision of the Future, it plans 70 projections and installations in 35 locations including the central hub of Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz.

7-16 October 2022, festival-of-lights.de. Photo: JoachimKohler-HB, Wikimedia Commons