Over the past two decades, the Lyon Festival of Lights has become a global reference for short urban performances. The strength of the festival lies in the bold choices and new ideas that are pumped into its performances every year, covering all fields, from poetic impressions to those that seek to impress.
The lights consume a specific and calculated amount of electrical energy in an environmentally friendly manner and use the latest technology in their displays. But the real strength of this festival is that it is a heritage festival in the city that is proud of all its inhabitants, regardless of their origins and ethnicities.
Some of the events held in Lyon reflect the spirit of the city, led by this beautiful and popular festival and its values that reflect the meanings of brotherhood and solidarity. With the increase of creative works in the festival expanded to include the participation of artists from around the world, and expanded its geography to include new areas of the city, especially in the 2019 version.
This year's edition of the festival included 65 creative works, distributed in more than 35 places, nearly 140 participants from the student and youth category, and 80 companies and institutions specialized in light shows. Last year's edition saw 1.8 million people from around the world visit in four nights. The budget of the festival comes in half between the public and private sectors.
The Lyon Festival of Lights dates back to 1852, and on September 8 that year, the city authorities were about to install the statue of the Virgin Mary on the hill of Forvier, but the rain forced officials to postpone. Three months later on December 8, the weather worsened again, delaying the event again.
At one point at dusk, the inhabitants of Lyon decided to ignore the weather and began to spontaneously put candles on the edges of their windows, which led to the lighting of the streets of the city, and the Lyon Festival of Lights was born. The festival took on new dimensions in the 1960s when the business lighting competition launched their stores.
In 1989, the city of Lyon began focusing on the use of light to improve its architecture and heritage by blending light with the urban development process by launching the Urban Lighting Plan. Thus, Lyon has become an international reference in the lighting arts for various occasions.