When it comes to London’s Christmas lights, every area has their own speciality. Oxford Street goes big, Regent Street goes heavenly, and the Churchill Arms goes spectacularly over the top. As for the highest, you’ll need to look to London Bridge, where The Shard’s Christmas lights illuminate the sky from wayyyyy up high. Western Europe’s highest festive display is back, with a wonderfully charming trio of light designs.
The top 20 storeys of the building have transformed into a fiesta of festivity, composed of hundreds of light installations. This year, the skyscraper has taken on a colourful theme, with a design created by the London School of Mosaic (LSoM).
Those looking high into the sky will see three different designs decorating the Shard’s peak: a snowman, a festive candle, and an inspired Scottish pattern. It’s a proper Christmas canvas perched high atop London and wonderfully represents the rich artistic endeavours that come out of the city.
Each design comes to life as part of a 30-minute display, in which striking imagery plays out for Londoners gazing at the skyline. The snowman shows up in a bright red festive scarf and hat before melting away. The candle shines brightly against a blue background. Rounding out the trio is a “green and gold pattern inspired by a Christmas Brooch created by Pop Art pioneering Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi”. (If the work looks familiar, it’s because Paolozzi is also responsible for the eye-catching mosaics found at Tottenham Court Road station.)
You can now catch the display every night from 5pm onwards, until New Year’s Eve. At that point, the design will give way to a new display that marks the moment we mercifully cross into 2024. Beginning at the stroke of midnight and lasting into the early hours of New Year’s Day, it’ll hopefully signal the arrival of a far better year!
Also published on Medium.