At the start of December, Lyon turns the lights on between the buildings–check out my street, it’s gorgeous! The city glows warmer, and my bedroom glows with it until 12 am, when the lights switch off. This past weekend, Lyon kicked off the Christmas celebration with something even better than streetlights and Christmas markets–the Fête des lumières. The tradition started back in 1850, when the people of Lyon put candles in their windows in the 8th of December to celebrate a new statue at the Basilique de Fourvière.
But nowadays, the Fête des lumières is much more exciting. The city projects images and lights onto buildings, and thousands of people mill through the streets–coming from all over France and even the world. Vendors on the sidewalk sell vin chaud, crêpes, and even barbapapa (cotton candy–think “Papa’s beard”).
Place Bellecour, with the Basilique de Fourvière illuminated in blue on the hill.
Even though there was so many interesting and colorful things to see all over the city, my two favorite illuminations were at Place des Celestins and Place des Terraux. At Place des Celestins, a person from the crowd stood up on a platform and played pinball… which was projected onto the façade of the Théâtre Celestins. What a seriously awesome idea! (Also, how complicated would the programming be to make that happen?!) Check out the video I took:
As cool as Place des Celestins is, Place des Terraux really took the cake in my opinion. Take a look at the Place during the day (the building opposite is the Hôtel de Ville that I toured during the Journées du Patrimoine):
For the Fête des lumières, police directed foot traffic into the square from one corner and allowed people to exit from another. Once you got into the square, the projection started playing on the building all around you–even on the statue. The film showed what happens on full moons; the horses from the statue come to life, as well as the woman who reigns them in. Here’s some video I took of it:
I thought this projection was absolutely mesmerizing, so I went back to the Place des Terraux twice to see it. The fact that they projected an exact-color image of the building onto the building–and then made it move–was breathtaking. I admired how the music, color, and movement resulted in a feeling of chaos that stuck with you even as you exited the square. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! It’s a feeling that I will remember for the rest of my life.
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Read my Lyon posts (from packing until now) :
Packin’ It Up
How do you say, “stressful,” in French?
A Saturday in Vieux Lyon
Journées du Patrimoine
Problems with Paperwork
Sittin’ in a Café
At the Movies with Gérard Depardieu
Break for Barcelona
Biking Around Town
Bon Voyage!
No Place Like Home
Finals in France
Wine Tasting
Thoughts on Thanksgiving
A Week in the (French) Life
And for the rest of the week, visit my blog, à mi-chemin.