La fête des lumières is a yearly light festival in Lyon from 8- 11 December where buildings are lit up with light projections.
It is said to date back to 1852 – on the feast of the Immaculate Conception – for the inauguration of the bronze statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of Notre Dame de Fourvière – built of course to thank Mary for saving the city from a plague in 1643
The story goes that a storm ruled out a fireworks display to mark the inauguration so Lyonnais put candles in their windows instead – and a tradition was born.
So with our Super Voisine Patrizia and her friend we set out to see the rehearsals the day before – when Lyon isn’t quite so full.
The first few installations we went to see weren’t being rehearsed when we were there so instead we went for a drink.
Then we timed it perfectly to see the show in Place de Terreaux.
It featured figures from the world of art singing along to songs from Serge Gainsbourg, Britney Spears, Eminem, AC/DC and others. Watch for yourselves.
Thrown to (the) Lyon 
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