Fête des LumièresFour December nights, the city alight

Four nights of one city

Lyon, France — City light festival.

Four nights.

The official history page places the origin in 1852. A Virgin statue on Fourviere was due to be unveiled on 9 September, but the Saone flooded sculptor Fabisch's workshop and the date moved to 8 December; that day brought a storm too, the official ceremony was cancelled, and at nightfall the sky cleared — Lyonnais set lit candles on their windowsills and balconies, and kept doing so year after year.

In 1989 Lyon set its first Plan Lumiere; the official site calls it the first European city to do so, bringing bridges, squares, banks and both rivers into a lighting plan. Only in 1999 did today's four-night festival, with installations laid along a route, begin.

It starts with a statue

In 1852 Lyon planned to raise a Virgin statue on Fourviere; the unveiling was set for 9 September. The Saone flooded and submerged sculptor Fabisch's workshop, pushing the date to 8 December.

That morning brought another storm, and the masters cancelled the celebration and fireworks. The official history page says that at nightfall the weather suddenly turned, and Lyonnais placed lit candles in coloured glasses on their windowsills and balconies, and took to the streets singing.

Every year since, that row of light has appeared on the windowsill. Earlier, in 1643, city councillors had climbed the hill to vow away the plague, and the 9 September procession dated from then — two origins meeting on 8 December.

The lighting plan of 1989

In the 1960s Lyon shops still competed on window lights, food stores most keenly — an old tradition in new form. In 1989 the city set its first Plan Lumiere; the official site calls it the first European city to do so.

The plan first lit the monuments — squares, streets, bridges, riverbanks, even the surfaces of the Rhone and Saone together. Light stopped being only for seeing the way; buildings gained another face at night.

In 1999 the four nights joined into one programme. Artists took the squares and facades, arranging installations into a walkable route; the Renaissance facades of the peninsula and old town became screens, with Fourviere watching from across the river.

How to walk these four nights

Place des Terreaux sits between the city hall and the art museum; the two facades get a new projection each year. Place Bellecour's large square, the old town's narrow streets, the bridges and the riverbanks all carry installations.

After dark several blocks are pedestrians-only; the squares crowd, and to see one wall clearly you wait for the next round. Which spots stay lit until when is posted each edition as a timetable.

The residents' windowsill candles and the big square installations run at once — one in the lanes, one in the squares. The Lyonnais keep the former for themselves and set out the latter for visitors.