Festival of Lights: Zagreb’s Way to Welcome Spring
A fun tour through the city
This year is the third edition of Zagreb Festival of Lights, and it is also one of my favorite events held in the city all year round. For me, it's even better than Advent, and that says a lot!
Download mapFrom its beginnings in 2017, the festival has spread to many locations across the city center creating an amazing tour around the heart of Zagreb worth exploring. These years locations include: Grič Tunnel and Grič Park, Art Park, Tomićeva Street, Lotrščak Tower, Strossmayer Promenade east and west, Vranyczany Field, St. Catherine's Church, Gradec Plateau, and Gradec Summer Cinema, Klovićevi Dvori Gallery – Atrium, and Klovićevi Dvori Gallery, Jesuit Square, Opatička Street, Croatian History Institute, Zagreb City Museum – the main courtyard, Vraz Promenade, children's playground – Dubravkin put, Tuškanac Summer Stage, and Tuškanac (Dubravkin put).
As you can see, there is A LOT to see and explore. It's almost impossible to see everything in one take as you'll probably get distracted at your first or second stop and stay there all evening. At least it was like that for me. So, I recommend to make a two or three-day route out of it and explore all the locations properly. Yesterday, I visited some of the locations so here are my thoughts and recommendations which I hope will inspire you to go and explore the festival on your own.
Personal favorites
What I especially love about this festival is that it brings old buildings of the city to life. Artists use their walls as a huge canvas for bringing their visions to life with a little help of modern technology. During the days of the festival, Zagreb becomes their playground, and you feel like you’ve entered in the Alice in Wonderland world where every location tells its story through different colors, sounds and visual effects created by using different materials.
For me, it is a unique opportunity to see my own town in a totally different setting. The well-known buildings we pass by every day now get a chance to show us their different face. It’s something like a fun dress up or a carnival show but this time for the city buildings. I also see it as a good way of saying goodbye to the gloomy days of winter and entering in the most colorful time of the year – spring of course, which conveniently marks its first day during the festival, on March 21st.
Even though it was hard to pick, my favorite locations this year are Tunnel Grič and Grič Park. The theme for the tunnel is a magic forest, and it truly has become that. Stepping into this old tunnel under the city center is an experience in itself. But during this festival, it becomes even more amazing. The tunnel is transformed into a real forest full of unusual and magical creatures and luminous plants all with the help of fantastic light effects which will leave you breathless. If that's not enough, the theme of animals continues at Grič Park which became a grand aquarium. Yes, you read that right. The light artists have really outdone themselves with this one. Through the 3D mapping and holographic projections, the park has become a huge water world that left me speechless. An amazing touch
Magic Forest / Tunnel Grič
A place to be
On the other hand, if you’re looking for the most Instagrammable place of the festival, it could most definitely be the Gradec plateau which, in the last two years, had probably the most recognizable setup of the festival. It was a floating tulip-like artwork lit up with beautiful silver-blue lights called a ‘’Spring game’’. Symbolically, it shows nature blossoming in spring. As a true lover of spring, I really liked this idea of connecting nature and technology into one amazing art piece.
This year's theme for the plateau set on a ''Loves me, loves me not'' theme is shown through the children's game of picking the flower petals to predict if your crush loves you or not. I think it's a universal game played by kids all over the world. I sure played it with my friends throughout our kindergarten and middle school days.
The theme is also a great fit for the ''welcoming of spring theme'' of the whole festival, and I really love how it was presented. Another cool fact is that there is also ''a Panda land'' which is a collaboration between the People's Republic of China and the City of Zagreb to mark the year of culture and tourism between Croatia and China. If you're an animal lover like me, you should totally go and see it.
It seems that Gradec plateau has slowly but surely become a place to be in Zagreb. From Advent in Zagreb and Summer in the City Festival, this is yet another festival which included this location on its list. It really comes with no surprise to me, since its beautiful view overlooking Zagreb’s iconic Cathedral leaves everyone in awe. Even for us locals, every visit to this beautiful viewpoint is special.
Loves me
After everything said, I hope you'll explore all the locations of the Festival. Those described above are just a small glimpse of everything to see. So, if you find yourself in Zagreb from 20th to 24th of March, don't miss out on the experience of this amazing event.
Header image credit: Sanjin Kaštelan, TZGZ
Author: Darija Ilić