For the tenth year in a row the light festival in Jerusalem brought the old city to light.
More than 250,000 people came to admire the installations of light statues, the performances and the pieces of museum artwork, in a unique spirit that illumined all the architectural places of the old city.
There were more than 35 installations this year for the festival which took place from June 27 to July 05.
This annual exhibition took almost 8 months to develop and brought to the stage pieces made by leading artists from Israel and other countries like Germany, China and the Philippines.
For over a week, both tourists and locals enjoyed one of the largest light festivals in the world in, the old city of Jerusalem. Artists and musicians entertained the crowds along four routes for 3 hours every night.
Gaston Zahr explained this year’s theme was unity. “It brings people together and to areas of the Old City they may not normally visit”.
On Damascus Gate, international artists designed projections illumining lights in Zedekiah’s cave, a graffiti exhibit with paint brushes used to draw on an LED screen, and a forest of thousands of shining branches.
Some of the international artists shared their home artwork to introduce their artistic traditions to Israel and other countries. One of them was Arwin Quiwa, a Filipino artist, who designed and led the production of a giant lantern on display in Gan Habonim. He told reporters that the flower shaped lantern was inspired by the Star of Bethlehem that guided the three wise men in the Christian narrative of the birth of Jesus.
The artist wanted to show the traditional Christmas celebrations of his country. “I want to exhibit our artwork, the Filipino artwork; this giant lantern, to other countries. We’ve been, last year, to Singapore and Honolulu… to exhibit our artwork, so other countries will know that we have this kind of lantern and light piece.”
One of the main colorful sculptures of the festival was the illumined glass spheres connected by diagonal pipes. The piece was designed to light brighter and to send light up to the other spheres when someone touched one.
One of the lead artist of the piece worked on the sculpture for 8 months to replicate 18 spheres which represent the brain neurons, inspired by the human brain and the connectivity within it.
At the end of the week, the goal had been reached, the festival brought people together for an enlightening and unforgettable experience. The festival was an interesting experience for all those who visited.