Again this year and for the tenth time now, the Festival of Lights and the Berlin Shines Festival took place during the first three weeks in October.
National as well as international artists presented light installations which transformed the city into a huge stage, numerous landmarks, historical places, streets and other important buildings throughout the city were illuminated with different colors and videos.
I spent the last week in Cologne, to visit this year’s gamescom (fourth time now without visiting the Cologne Cathedral, next time for sure!) and like last year I got invited by different developers and publishers to watch a couple of presentations about upcoming games.
As always, to get more information about your favorite games, just visit the different gaming websites.
I also took some time to walk around and take some photos, most of them are from the press day, the public days this year were just too crowded.
On a sunny day, you can see performing artists all over the city, and it doesn’t take much to draw the attention of surrounding passersby and tourists. For example, just a paddling pool and some soap water.
The Stadtschloss, in English the Berlin City Palace, was a royal palace in the centre of Berlin. It was the principal residence of the Hohenzollern Kings of Prussia from 1701 to 1918 (the German Emperors from 1871 to 1918) and a museum following the fall of the German Empire in 1918.
Damaged by Allied bombing in World War II, although possible to repair at great expense, the palace was demolished in 1950 by the GDR authorities, despite West German protests. Following the reunification of Germany, it was decided to rebuild the Stadtschloss.
The new Castle will be named Humboldt Forum and will be rebuilt as a replica of the former Baroque building. In the meantime a big blue box, called HumboldtBox, will cover the empty space right beside the Berlin Cathedral. If you want to know more about the whole project, just visit the exhibition on the first floor, or if you just want to relax, the restaurant on the fifth floor provides you a 360° panoramic view over Berlin.
Again in 2010 more than 60 buildings will be illuminated during this years Festival of Lights. Many landmarks and buildings – including the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Cathedral and the TV Tower – will be staged with light, events, projections and fireworks. The Potsdamer Platz will serve as the point of contact for visitors to get information about the locations and events of the Festival of Lights.
The Festival of Lights has become one of the most important international public events in Berlin. For nearly two weeks (From October 13th to October 24th 2010 from 7 pm to 12 am [core time]) , numerous illuminations and events transform the German capital into a sparkling metropolis, where Berlin’s world-famous landmarks, buildings and sites are the stars of the show.