The Lyon H\u00f4tel de Ville (City Hall) is transformed through the art of light.
Lighting Design by Gilbert Coud\u00e8ne & Etienne Guiol
Photograph \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

The Illuminating\u00a0Light Installations of Lyon<\/h2>\n

As soon as darkness falls, electricity pulses through the city. More than 70 light installations come to life, and thousands of revelers buzz in the streets. Energy is everywhere.<\/p>\n

Palais Saint Pierre in Place des Terreaux
Lighting Design by Gilbert Coud\u00e8ne & Etienne Guiol
Photograph \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s F\u00eate des Lumi\u00e8res<\/em> in Lyon, France. Millions of people from all over the world come to celebrate\u00a0this festive day\u2014December 8\u2014as well as the surrounding days. It is said to be the third largest world festival gathering, after Carnival in Rio and Oktoberfest in Munich.<\/p>\n

A Tribute to Mary<\/h4>\n

The event began in 1852 as\u00a0a tribute to the Virgin Mary (held on The Feast of the Immaculate Conception). The town was celebrating a new statue of Mary that was placed next to the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvi\u00e8re,\u00a0high on the hill that overlooks the city.<\/p>\n

The festival began with a simple tribute by candle.
Photograph \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

The townspeople put candles in colored-glass holders in their windows to celebrate the occasion.<\/p>\n

Over the years, more and more candles appeared on the festival day. Now, it is tradition to place candles in all the city windows, along with a new tradition\u2014a celebration of the art of light.<\/p>\n

A bamboo forest of light
Lighting Design by Digiplay Studio
Photograph \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Enlightened Artistry<\/h4>\n

Evolution was inevitable. Today, with the support of the city (and two electric companies), creativity and technology are interwoven as the innovative light installations become a centerpiece.<\/p>\n

Lighting designers from around the world are invited to participate (those already recognized in the field, as well as new talent).<\/p>\n

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvi\u00e8re on the hill
Photograph \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Illuminating the City<\/h4>\n

The historic church is bathed in colored light on the hill, with a Hollywood-like sign paying tribute to Mary (“Merci Marie”).<\/p>\n

Buildings usually constrained by the gravitas of their purpose burst into multi-colored light shows, with music, video, and sound.<\/p>\n

The Theatre des C\u00e9lestins changes palette
Lighting Design by Daniel Knipper
Photograph \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

. . . and then goes wild
Photograph \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

There are trees in tutus, bridges lit by the force of a mallet\u00a0swung by adventurous\u00a0participants, fields of lavender, a bamboo forest of light, and a fountain transformed into a child’s night light.<\/p>\n

The Place des Jacobins Fountain becomes an oversized child’s nightlight
Lighting Design by Christopher Mayer
Photography \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

. . . and spills fanciful patterns onto the neighboring apartment buildings
Photograph \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Streets are arched\u00a0with sparkles, trees are hung with lanterns, artistic lightbulbs and spilt light are\u00a0omnipresent, and vin chaud<\/em>\u00a0(mulled wine) is everywhere.<\/p>\n

Arches of light on Rue de la R\u00e9publique
Lighting Design by Hexagone Illumination
Photograph \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

And tonight, on the evening of December 8, fireworks will cascade over the Rh\u00f4ne River to end the celebration with a bang.<\/p>\n

Oh, I See<\/h4>\n

There is too much to see in a short time during this amazing event. You walk the streets with a herd\u00a0of light lovers, sometimes shuffling together in painfully slow rhythm as the crowd moves from one place to another.<\/p>\n

But all will agree that the reward is the magic. The light installations will make you marvel, gasp, dance, stare in awe, and put your\u00a0arms around your friends and family.<\/p>\n

Illumination comes in many forms. There is magic in the art of light, but there is also magic in feeling a part of a\u00a0community of holiday spirit.<\/p>\n

The children with their light sabers may be the best messengers.<\/p>\n

May the force be with you.<\/p>\n

A duel of the light sabers
Photograph \u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Happy holidays!<\/p>\n

Here’s more information on the F\u00eate des Lumi\u00e8res<\/a> from the city of Lyon.<\/em><\/p>\n

Comment<\/a>\u00a0on this post, or inspire insight with your own\u00a0OIC Moment\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20523,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,157,222,126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-france-mappoints","category-innovations-creative","category-hiking-travel","category-art-creative"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40722,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20519\/revisions\/40722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}