Berlin: A city bathed in light
Two light air festivals are currently illuminating many buildings and landmarks in Berlin. We show you some of the highlights from "Berlin Leuchtet" (Berlin lights up) and the Festival of Lights.
Märkisches Viertel
The Berlin Leuchtet festival's slogan is "light transforms" — as it does here in Märkisches Viertel. This nondescript high-rise development in the northern district of Reinickendorf was built in the 1960s to house 50,000 people. The working-class suburb isn't usually a tourist destination, but the festival turns its monotony into a magical fairy-tale landscape that's well worth seeing.
Sinking Wall sculpture fountain
This year's Festival of Lights marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The theme "Lights of Freedom" links all the light artworks across the former border between East and West Berlin. Two soldiers and a child look through a hole in the Sinking Wall sculpture in Invalidenpark. The path to freedom has been blazed.
Berlin Cathedral
Of course, prominent places and evergreens like Berlin Cathedral always loom large at the Festival of Lights. The light artworks that adorn it include the artist Thierry Noir's colorful profile heads, familiar to tourists as graffiti from Berlin's East Side Gallery.
Hotel de Rome
The Hotel de Rome on Bebelplatz square offers a special highlight: It's the venue for an international street art challenge. Renowned street artists from fourteen countries project their interpretations of the motto "free your energy" on the hotel's facade. It's all accompanied by classical music.
Natural History Museum
Taking part in the Festival of Lights for the first time, the Natural History Museum springs to life at night with 3D projection mapping. The show focuses on the beauty of nature and opens up insights into the secrets of evolution. The denizens of the museum leave their cases, appear between columns and windows on the museum's facades and seem close enough to touch.
Humboldt University
It's considered one of Germany's most renowned universities: Humboldt University on Berlin's famous Unter den Linden boulevard becomes a memorial to its founders, the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt and his brother, the philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt. For the light festival, flowers, butterflies and other nature motifs drape the entrance facade in delicate pastel tones.
State Opera House and St. Hedwig's Cathedral
Exotic animals and jungle plants also wander over the facades of the State Opera House (left) and St. Hedwig's Cathedral. In combination with Humboldt University opposite them, it's as if the three buildings fuse into a unique ensemble during these night-time illuminations.
Humboldt University Law Faculty
White horses gallop over the portal of the university's law school building with its decorative columns. In the background, vibrant blues form an intense contrast. Berlin is glowing in all sorts of colors until October 20th — for Berliners and tourists from around the world.