The British-born Lightopia Festival will come to Brussels this winter, its first location on the continent, lighting up the historic Grand Bigard Castle, just outside the city.
The festival is a multi-cultural and multi-tech mix of water shows, 3D projections, handcrafted lanterns and more, all originally intended to call to mind Chinese New Year traditions. Xavier Pelgrims, who owns the castle, says that “At night, a fabulous light show will illuminate the castle and the park with hundreds of multi-coloured and interactive lights, a real enchantment for everyone.”
The Bigard castle is a 17th-century landmark with beautiful gardens, woodland and Renaissance-style architecture. From November, people will be able to follow a 1.8 km-long light and lanterns trail, with thousands of installations using over 1,000,000 light bulbs.
Among the features are an interactive Tree of Life protected by the Manneken Pis Fairy, the Fairy Gate, Golden Christmas Tree, Spell Tunnel, Dream Catcher, Magical Safari, Belgium Fairy Flowers, Enchanted Mini-City, Wizardly Lights and Love Land.
A water show featuring a 40-meter wide and 15-meter-tall water screen will also rise in front of the castle, turning it into a never-before-seen fairy tale dreamworld. The festtival will be open to the public on selected days from 18 November 2022 to 8 January 2023.
