The Berlin Festival of Lights, 2023

As if the Brandenburger Tor weren't enough as it is!

An annual tradition that marks the onset of the Season of Light – the upcoming lights of Halloween, Hannukah, Christmas, and even the fireworks of New Year’s Eve – Berlin’s Festival of Lights draws crazy big, enthusiastic crowds, even in the pouring rain. They come to see lights shone in fanciful patterns on some of Berlin’s most famous monuments and buildings.

The first of Berlin’s monuments that I became familiar with before coming here is the Siegessäule, or Victory Column, which marked Prussia’s 1870 victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War, the year before the Unification of Germany. I first saw it in Wim Wenders’ marvelous black and white film from 1987, Wings of Desire. Set in a still-divided Berlin, only two years before the fall of the Wall, it’s a beautiful film, and – in a neat historical twist – a German/French co-production!

Topped by the golden angel Berliner’s call Elsie, the column’s lights touched on the theme of this year’s Festival – Colors of Life: A Festival…