The Jerusalem Light Festival is a special way to enjoy Israel’s capital on a summer’s night.
Jerusalem’s 11th International Light Festival is now taking place in the capital’s Old City. The event attracts many thousands of people each year.
“I love the light festival,” Jerusalem resident Arye Dobuler told United With Israel. “It’s a phenomenal exhibit that I enjoy every summer.”
The annual Light Festival, which began on June 26 and will run through July 4, is an initiative of The Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Jerusalem Development Authority, under the management and production of the Ariel Municipal Company.
It offers modern light installations that illuminate sites in and around the Old City, along with musical performances.
“It is impressive that each year offers different exhibits from the last,” continued Dobuler. “It’s an unbelievable investment of resources that the city provides to visitors for free.”
The theme of this year’s entertaining event, as noted on its website, is “Spreading the Light.” Its goal is to unite exhibitors and visitors from all over the world and show them the beauty of Jerusalem.
Visual Jockeys, called VJs, put on multi-sensory parties that blend music with light. Over 30 light artists are creating the shows. Some of the VJs come from Poland, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine and India.
Eye-popping displays include an interactive screen that takes the movement of people and turns it into abstract light images; “The Mirror,” which uses thousands of mirrors and intersecting rays of light, creating millions of reflections that shine off of an illuminated disco ball; a display that takes piano music and turns the sounds into a light show, and much more.
Visitors may follow three different routes for the full experience. One circumvents the walls of the Old City. Another passes through the Arab market (shuk) and the Christian Quarter. The third passes Damascus Gate and finishes at Zedekiah’s Cave.
Though the entrance to the Old City is closed to vehicles during the Light Festival, free transportation is provided by the municipality from Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium and the First Station.
