Fallas Streetlights
Even after the sun has set, there are no limits to the Fallas decorations in the city: streetlight installations illuminate the neighbourhoods during the festival.
Fallas Streetlights
Even after the sun has set, there are no limits to the Fallas decorations in the city: streetlight installations illuminate the neighbourhoods during the festival.
As the Semana Fallera, the closing week of the festival, approaches, the various Fallas committees prepare a show that is bound to leave the public in awe: the street illumination. Around numerous neighbourhoods all over Valencia, majestic streetlights are installed.
Each Falla works in collaboration with expert technicians from all over Spain and abroad to create these works of artistic illumination. Their point is to announce the imminent arrival of the Plantà and the final days of the festival. But the streetlights have become so appreciated that their inauguration constitutes an event in and of itself.
These are not just simple streetside decorations on traffic poles and trees. These are surprisingly intricate lighting projects. Hundreds of lightbulbs line up in heavy curtains, opening up to streets that resemble dream-like palace halls. Luminous vaults rise high above the asphalt and blankets quilted with colourful lights fill the space between buildings. Heavy chandeliers whose crystals are dozens of LED lights swing between the balconies.
Valencians and tourists flock to the streets to see the impressive structures and colourful shapes. From the biggest and most elaborate displays to the simpler and smaller installations, the Fallas streetlights are highly appreciated and people all over Valencia make a point of visiting as many as they can.
Several of these displays even enter a streetlight competition, organised annually by the Junta Central Fallera. The committees are sorted into two categories: A-Category for the bigger installations with a budget above €15,000, and B-Category for the smaller ones with a budget under €15,000.
In the case of the A-Category displays, it’s not uncommon to have several encendido de luces events, where the streetlights are turned on, accompanied by music and sometimes even fireworks. In case such an event is organised, the committees release an official programme days ahead to let the public know when they can see the show every night.
