This week is the middle of the annual Canberra Festival, and one of the highlights (pun unintended) is the annual Enlighten festival, where public buildings in the Parliamentary triangle are lit up with transitions of various colours, themes and – in some cases – multimedia.
The heart of the festival must be Old Parliament House, which is host to the entire front of the building being lit up in amazing detail.
The only downside to this vision is the stream of cars driving past – and in most cases, right past the front steps – I don’t know why the road isn’t blocked off after 9pm. There was a smallish crowd, but it wasn’t too busy and there were excellent opportunities for photo taking.
My favourite illumination of the House has to be the 800 year anniversary of Magna Carta, one of my most favourite historic documents. We moved north, past the Sovereignty sign which marks the heart of the Aboriginal tent embassy, and found our way to the National Portrait Museum. Here, the building facade was illuminated with a multimedia light show. Most of my photos didn’t come out well, but the odd one did – typically the less moving ones!
Moving west, we ended up atop a slight rise looking at the outside of Questacon. Here the building was also given the multimedia treatment, the highlight being a 3D rendering of New York’s Manhattan island. Beyond Questacon, the National Library had an exceptionally Australian theme going, a mix of Anzac and lifestyle genres.
On our way back to the Old Parliament House, we examined some of the sculptures along the pathway leading back to the main area. Here, the trees and statues were also lit up with a rainbow of colours. All in all, it was a very productive night out, and a good exercise for my camera!
Wow, I’m not familiar with this festival. It looks amazing.