Festival of lights – Lyon 2009

Sunday, 6 December 2009, was a cloudy, not too cold, and somewhat depressing day in Saint-Étienne. Yet, I was very happy as I was looking forward to my visit to Lyon for the Fête des Lumières, or the Festival of lights. This festival of lights has been celebrated by the people of Lyon every year since 1643, when the town was struck by the plague. The municipal councilors had promised to pay a tribute to The Virgin Mary if Lyon was spared.

This festival, which started with people lighting candles in their windows, has now evolved into a grand spectacle with nearly a hundred different light shows all over the city.

I visited this festival with my good friend Adeline, and before we realized it, we spent 5 and a half hours walking around Lyon, thought we had seen just a few of things there were to see. We started our tour at Vieux Lyon, at the Cathédrale Saint-Jean. Here, there was a projection show titled Les Bâtisseurs or The Builders. It chronicled the construction of the cathédral with the finale being the projections matching in every detail with the façade of the building.

The Cathédrale Saint-Jean

I do not have a better camera, or I could have got a better picture.

Next, we moved to the banks of the river Saône, which provided an excellent vantage point to watch the fireworks. These fireworks were originally planned for the 14th of July, the Liberation Day. However, due to heavy rains, they had been canceled. It was fortunate for us that we got to see them on this day.

Fireworks

Following the fireworks, which lasted about 20 minutes and was spectacular, we decided to climb the hill to reach the Basilica of Fourvière. On the way to the basilica, we spotted this tiny garden with quaint lights, and a very soothing ambiance. There were lights shaped like tulips. There was also a nice woman who greeted me "Bon soir!!" just as I entered. I began to rummage in my head to recall where I may have met her before, or how she knew me, when I realized that it was just a friendly greeting. A gentleman standing just next to the woman offered us some hot soup made of lentils and sprinkled some coriander over it. We enjoyed the garden in silence, sipping the hot soup. As we were leaving, we christened this garden Le Jardin Peace.

Le Jardin Peace

After this slight detour, we continued our ascent to the basilica. The light show that they had here was different from the others in that the music was more modern – Adeline and I tried to do an impromptu autobot dance here – and the lighting was more internal than projected. Also, the music was made up entirely with the sounds of church bells. The enormous front face of the basilica looked surreal just a few seconds before the end of the show.

The Basilica of Fourvière

We also had some very good hot wine (vin chaud) which we bought just in front of the basilica. Vin chaud is made by heating some red wine with sugar and certain spices. Everybody seems to have their own recipe for it. My good friend Zuzanna uses Quatre Épices and so do I, but I did not taste any of this spice in the wine we bought here at the basilica. It works very well to warm oneself on cold nights, at the same time not getting drunk too. Adeline and I walked to the rear of the basilica where a display was mounted, thanking Mary in huge luminous letters "Merci Marie". The view of the Lyon city centre is breathtaking from this location. There were too many people here, and so I was unable to take a picture.

Having emptied our glasses of hot wine, and having rested ourselves a bit, we began the downhill trek to reach the Hôtel de Ville, or the city hall, where the light show is a must-see. On the way down, we discovered a space beside the road, where there was a unique style of lighting. Everywhere we had seen projections on to walls and buildings, and lighting from within at the basilica. Here, the projectors were placed over head, and the designs were formed on the floor, and on the people walking over it. Personally, this was my favorite as I found the simplicity of the idea and the complexity of the result overwhelming. I did take some pictures here, but due to the low light conditions, none of them do any justice to this amazing spectacle.

At the city hall, this year's show was titled Jouons du temps or "Let's play with time". Throughout the length of the show there was a clock and a métronome placed centrally on the two displays. The métronome kept the rhythm while the direction of the movement of the clock indicated the sense of the passage of time. The seasons passed, time changed direction several times, buildings were erected and they fell, all of which reminded us of the transient nature of all that exists, and showing us the beauty of every passing moment, which can be just as eternal as it is fleeting.

Various stages of the show at Hôtel de Ville

We were mesmerized by the profound thought and excellent execution of this show and we watched it several times. This was when we realized that it was getting late and if we were to take the last train out of Lyon, we would have hurry up. Therefore, we decided to take a look at one more place before we walked to Bellecour and took the metro to Part-Dieu from where we would leave Lyon.

As we left the square of the city hall, we came upon another large square just beside the Lyon Opéra, where there was a garden of lights. There were giant glowing mushrooms, trees with tiny sparkles at the end of their branches and a variety of other shapes as well.

The Garden of Lights

This is where we ended our visit of this festival. I am sure I will return next year and every year when it is possible for me to visit Lyon.