Nearly a quarter of a million visit Lumiere festival

Dome and Arches by Luminate De Cagna in the main square in Durham. Credit: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire/PA Images

First estimates suggest that 240,000 visited the fifth Lumiere festival in Durham, making it another record breaking year.

200,000 visitors attended the last event in 2015.

Since its inception in 2009, Lumiere has transformed Durham City into a nocturnal art gallery every two years. For the 2017 edition, 29 spectacular artworks and installations created an illuminated trail right across the city.

Firm festival favourites included For The Birds in Durham University’s Botanic Garden, an enchanting collection of more than twenty light and sound installations inspired by birdlife, What Matters a mesmerising installation of over 2,000 pieces of hand blown glass in St Oswald's Church and Frequencies, which illuminated the trees and foliage along the riverside.

Lumiere Durham 2017 in facts and figures:

  • 240,000 visitors over 4 nights

  • 29 separate installations including For the Birds, a collection of 20 different artworks

  • 80 technicians to build the festival

  • 315 volunteer festival makers

  • 60 bellringers from Durham, North East and as far away as Cambridge

  • 66 local people aged 6-75 years old for Our Moon

  • 700 primary school pupils from 25 schools across the county took part in Cosmoscope workshops

  • 2,000 shards of glass for What Matters at St Oswald’s Church

  • 12,000 LED light bulbs for Cosmoscope

  • 15,000 stems planted in Cathedral Cloister for Entre Les Rangs