The City of Brussels turned on the Christmas lights on Wednesday to make the city and its streets “warm, attractive and surprising” for the end of the year and holidays – kicking off the 11th edition of ‘Brussels By Lights’.
As has become an annual tradition, Brussels city councillor for Economic Affairs Fabian Maingain switched on the lights on Wednesday evening, not only in the city centre but also in Laeken, Haren and Neder-Over-Heembeek.
“It is a great opportunity to enhance the personality of the neighbourhood and make it even more attractive,” Maingain said, adding that the Brussels City teams have once again proven to be “very creative.”
The lights – 21 km of light figures and 10.5 km of strings of lights – will be lit until 31 December. All this has a total consumption of 84 kilowatts. Every day, the lights will be switched on at approximately 13:00 and switched off at 01:00.
A brand new interactive geocaching trail has also been set up in Brussels, and residents and visitors can discover the shopping streets in the centre by completing two trails that each take 90 minutes. Participants start at Boulevard Anspach 65 (where Delhaize-Anspach used to be). The meeting point is a giant cat called Eikosis, at the intersection between the pedestrian zone and the Rue du Marché aux Poulets.
Putting up all the lights took a total of six weeks, and taking them down is expected to take as least as long.
