Lyon, France. City of Light. Beautiful Light....

This is what Lyon looks like every year during its annual Light Festival. It's an amazing and unforgettable spectacle, believe me. These nine photos are breathtaking, and you’d have a hard time believing that some of them weren’t photoshopped!. I can assure you that they were not, because I live right where it happens....

The Light Festival (also known as the “Illuminations”) is held every year over four days starting December 8. It’s origins are to be found in the Inauguration of  Lyon’s famous statue of the Virgin mary, which overlooks the whole of the city from the top of the cathedral on Fourvière Hill. This happened on December 8 1852, and the event has since become an institution.

The buildings you see here are already beautiful in the daytime, but lit up like this they are absolutely magical.

Downtown is flooded during this period with hundreds of thousands of local people and tourists from all over the world, all public transport is free, and there's a great vibe. It's a bit like a gigantic fairground. Kids, candyfloss, colour and crowds wherever you go, all over the city. Eyes wide open.......full of light and colour.

It changes style every year of course, and the city authorities and event committee invite the best lighting people in the world to contribute. Many of them are French, which is understandable because the French excel at major outdoor event lighting techniques and tableax.  

The Light Festival used to last just one evening at first, and the people of Lyon would put up rows of little candles on every home windowsill in the city. They still continue that tradition today, so even in normally nondescript streets it's light light light!

Thousands of tiny little dots of light, flickering bravely and gently in the evening breeze.........
 
(If you enjoyed these photos, here’s the official site of the event, which contains many more).

Light festival