Luminessences Opens Tonight in Avignon

Les Luminessences d'Avignon, a monumental 360°sound-and-light show at the Palais des Papes, is one of those annual spectacles (as the French call them) that seems to grow more and more popular each year.  This year's show, the fourth annual, opens tonight and runs until October 2, in the Palace's Honour Courtyard.

The Palais des Papes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was home to nine successive popes, considered the heart of the medieval Christian world and was the scene of several sieges. It played a very unique and vital role in European history...and Luminessences tells its story.  (For more on the Avignon papacy, click here.) The show--the same production as the one shown last summer--cloaks the four wings of the palace in enormous images and surround the audience "in a poetic fusion of architecture, light and music." Mostly everyone stands for the 35-minute show but small folding chairs and wheelchairs are welcome. 

This year, there will be three shows each week in English: at 10:15 pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.

Shows in French will be at 9:15 pm (every night) and at 10:15 pm (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday)

Tickets can be bought online in English here...or at the Palais des Papes during opening hours... or at the Avignon Tourist Office (see link and phone below). 

Prices are 11 € for adults, 9€ (reduced rate) free for kids under age 8. Info on group sales, private events, getting to Avignon, tickets and much more  is on the Luminessences website in English here.  They're also on Facebook For info by phone, call the Avignon Tourist Office at +33 (0)4 32 74 32 74.