The country's first and only light festival, the Zsolnay Light Festival in Pécs illuminates downtown Pécs with dazzling light creations every July. The buildings are clad in garments of light, the streets are carpeted with light, while the monumental façade of the Cathedral is brought to life by the best 3D cinematic projections of the international mapping competition.
The 4-day festival is a memorably experience for families and groups of friends in the Mediterranean city center of Pécs, with mappings paintings and numerous accompanying programs!
Walking along the Route of Light crossing downtown Pécs, visitors can again see sometimes grandiose, sometimes heartwarming, sometimes extravagant – but in each case amazingly spectacular, space-specific light installations.
Every year, the event attracting the greatest interest is the Zsolnay Light Art Video Mapping Competition, when moving, three-dimensional artworks of light come to life on the façade of the Cathedral.
The festival organically combines the world of light festivals with street art productions, concerts, theatre and contemporary circus performances. Visitors can acquire insight into the nature of light in an interactive and entertaining manner, and this educational satellite events convey new, creative content to visitors. The domestic and foreign artists invited and creative workshops mostly include internationally recognized professionals of the field and play a leading role in this dynamically developing form of art.
There is no other event in Hungary that offers as many diverse attractions, building mappings, light sculptures and interactive light shows as the city of Pécs and the Zsolnay Light Festival!
Zsolnay Light Festival 2024
It was the 8th time for Zsolnay Light Festival to await the audience thirsting for world-class light experiences in Pécs, between 4-7 July 2024.
The central attraction of the Zsolnay Light Festival was the Zsolnay Light Art Video Mapping Competition. Within this confines of this contest, five world-famous light artists presented their 3D mapping artworks focusing on the theme of the Rubik's cube. The colourful light animations accompanied by music coming to life on the façade of the Cathedral provided a stunning visual experience. Based on public votes, the winner was the artwork Chromatic Fusion by German artist Jonas Denzel.
Along the Route of Light, visitors could wander under the spell of state-of-the-art lighting wonders and art installations, admiring a total of 20 works of light.
Festival-goers could encounter interactive attractions at several locations, getting the opportunity to become active participants in the experience themselves: at the Mosque, they could send their own light energy up to the golden light planet of the dome, while at the Cella Septichora Visitor Center they could conjure light onto a holographic canvas with their hand gestures. The Light Carpet continued to be a big crowd favourite, covering two streets so charmingly that festival-goers often took photos lying in the middle of the road. This year, the Route of Light went beyond the city centre and the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter and its surroundings successfully debuted among the new venues.
International and domestic light artists had a chance to introduce themselves at the event, thus creating a real cultural buzz in the heart of Pécs. A Japanese artist conjured a laser show in the Kodály Center, while the works by a Spanish artist and another by French artist in the city center and in the Zsolnay Quarter respectively transported visitors to the world of science fiction films.
The festival offered not only light experiences. Street theatre and contemporary circus productions, as well as light workshops awaited visitors during the day, while concerts and DJ sets entertained them in the evenings.
It has been proven once again: Pécs is the highlight of summer!
