Staro Riga lighting festival

A new and beautiful tradition in honour of Latvia's 90th Birthday is starting this year in Rīga - the Staro Rīga lighting festival. Unique lit up objects of art, specially illuminated building facades, squares and bridges constituting more than 40 objects in total, will be on view in the streets and parks of the capital city's centre from the 14th to the 18th of November, motivating people to see familiar places in a different light. It is planned to transform the most nationally significant buildings, with special illumination, artistic installations and the showing of videos as part of the Staro Rīga lighting festival - Rīga Castle, the National Theatre, the Latvian National Museum of Art, the Opera, architectural monuments as well, bridges, churches and other tall buildings in the Rīga skyline, plus Art Nouveau facades, as well as the creation of a number of large lighting objects, which will enrich the city environment and provide a real feeling of celebration for residents and visitors. For example, a garden of illuminated flowers will bloom in Doma laukums, children's drawings will be lit up on the façade of the National Theatre, bright demonstrations of cast-iron pouring will take place by the Rīga Congress hall, and the usually grey Ministry of Agriculture building will be lit up with Latvia's Jubilee Celebration symbols: "Finally this building will be colourful and noticeable. And maybe we might make Rīgans think that it isn't just the skābbarības tornis [silage tower], but that the building is truly beautiful and could get a much nicer nickname if its illuminated in the right way," says the Project Manager, Indigo projekti representative, Ervīns Palmbahs. Visitors to the lighting festival will be offered walking routes along the Canal and its adjacent parks, the Rātslaukums, Līvu laukums, Doma laukums and Vērmanes Garden, as well as theatrical performances and entertainment. Some of the illuminated objects will continue to bring pleasure to Rīgans even after the festival, becoming an inseparable part of the face of Rīga. The festival will conclude on the 18th of November with a multimedia lighting performance dedicated to Latvia's 90 Year Jubilee on the banks of the Daugava. Along with the fireworks show and laser projections, the public should be pleased with Latvian composers' symphonic pieces as a synchronised musical accompaniment. The lighting show will be thirteen minutes long, and will be on view from both sides of the Daugava, and will also be directly telecast by Latvijas Televīzija. Organizers of the Staro Rīga lighting festival hope that the festival will ensure the Latvian capital's international recognition and will encourage tourists to visit Rīga. "It is not only a good opportunity to improve the city's lighting infrastructure, but also a way of attracting tourists in the tourist off-season," explains Rīga City Council Culture Department Director, Diāna Čivle. This year the festival will be promoted in the Baltic states, but next year a wider international campaign may be possible. The aim of Staro Rīga is to become Northern Europe's central lighting art festival and a tradition, which must be experienced at least once by every visitor to Latvia. link www.lv90.lv

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