The buzz of conversation in Brasserie Paul in the Cathedral Square in Rouen stills to the odd murmur as the darkness deepens outside.
Through the falling night a steady stream of people pour into the space in front of the cathedral's towering West Front, made famous a century ago by Claude Monet's series of 30 paintings of the facade in a variety of lights.
A light show, projecting computer-generated pixels and works by Monet and the American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein on to the cathedral, is about to start. The show uses 12 different images, one for each hour of the clock, and paintings are also projected on to a giant easel.
The Rouen show is part of a joint presentation, Cathedrals in Lights, which also involves Amiens in Picardy and Canterbury and Rochester cathedrals in Kent. A drive from London to Paris, using back roads and linking the cathedral cities, has been mapped.
Cathedrals in Lights is 50 per cent funded by the European Union (EU) funding stream Interreg 111, which aims to develop cultural and tourist links in border areas between member states. The aim of Cathedrals in Lights is to examine the gothic cathedrals, which are a major part of the common inheritance of France and Britain from Norman times.
The witching hour in Rouen was 10.40pm. Lights in the square were switched off and in this deeper darkness there was a click. Music blasted out from the building facing the cathedral door, from Monet's studio. Suddenly the front of the cathedral was ablaze with colour.
A huge easel in the square, where Monet used to place his, blazed too. The silence was intense. Then whispers started here and there. 'That is my favourite.' 'Look how the colours cling to the stone.' The crowd was a mix of locals, and tourists from places such as the UK and even Japan. Several were clearly repeat visitors.
Monet was born in Normandy and his brother lived in Rouen. Between 1892 and 1893, as his passion to explore light developed, he worked on his cathedral series. Seventy years later Lichtenstein fell under the spell of Monet's work and produced his own series of five cathedral paintings and then prints, enlarging the impressionist's dots.
To create the show, Rouen used Paris-based theatrical and light show company Skertzò, which has a track record of startling productions, including staging Verdi in the Stade de France. Skertzò also produced the Amiens show, which was inaugurated with different funding in 2000 and has now been extended using Interreg 111.
It involves projecting the original medieval colours in which the cathedral's main entrance was painted on to its present-day facade. The effect is a dramatic realisation of the vibrancy that a gothic cathedral would have had when it was built, with the carved doorways telling a rich story to illiterate believers.
Rouen's light show was switched on at the end of June and the city's Museum of Modern Art, which has the largest collection of impressionist paintings outside of the Quai D'Orsay in Paris, used it to promote its permanent and its temporary exhibitions.
Several of the city's restaurants had special menus that included Monet's favourite dishes. The Rochester and Canterbury shows will not be staged until September next year and their storylines are still being developed. Again, the shows will be free, which is a condition of the EU funding. The English cities are using a London company, LCI, to stage their shows.
UK heritage sites and museums are usually less generously funded by the state and local authorities than those in France. This constraint means that the Canterbury and Rochester shows are initially planned to last a week, although they might be extended if they are successful.
The Amiens and Rouen shows have been projected nightly throughout the summer. Amiens is already an annual event and Rouen is likely to become one.
In Canterbury the show will examine the cathedral through the eyes of the English painter William Turner. In Rochester, where the castle and cathedral face each other and were both built by Bishop Gundalf, an associate of William the Conqueror, the theme will be the often turbulent, irreligious and bloody relationship between church and state.
Ed Woollard, the principal tourism development officer at Medway Council and the Rochester project coordinator, says the partnership with the French cities began through links made through other European-funded projects.
Someone working at Canterbury met someone involved with the original Amiens project and was fascinated. Amiens was already working with Rouen. Medway's involvement in other European funded projects includes one that examines shared maritime history.
Woollard says Rochester is planning to stage re-enactments of some of the more dramatic encounters from the history of the castle and cathedral. 'We envisage Norman soldiers in the battlements. There will be music and lots of clever lighting.'
The budget for the Rochester project is £50,000 and the aim is to stage a big event that lasts one week, rather than a longer running, less dramatic presentation. More events could follow if this show is a success.
Woollard says that the shared project allows the four cities to pool experience. The French were years ahead in terms of use of light and sound - but the English had other strengths, such as marketing.
'I am sure it will be a real success. We will promote it heavily. There is a leaflet as well as a website which promotes the four cathedral cities together. The French are doing their shows this year and promoting ours for next year.'
Interreg 111, as with many EU funding streams, has complicated rules. England can work with France - but not, for instance, with Belgium, unless it is a tripartite project, with France providing a link between its two neighbours.
The light show at the cathedral in Amiens has been a great success, drawing in more than a million visitors over the past four years. France has a long history of using light and sound to enliven historic sites, attract visitors and put flesh on to the past.
The success of these shows has already attracted considerable interest among museums, galleries and historical sites in the UK. Not least of these is the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, which has its own dramatic light installation, which is designed to help visitors think about war.
The continental experience of light shows, particularly at cathedrals and castles in France and Germany, was the starting point for this installation.
Through the falling night a steady stream of people pour into the space in front of the cathedral's towering West Front, made famous a century ago by Claude Monet's series of 30 paintings of the facade in a variety of lights.
A light show, projecting computer-generated pixels and works by Monet and the American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein on to the cathedral, is about to start. The show uses 12 different images, one for each hour of the clock, and paintings are also projected on to a giant easel.
The Rouen show is part of a joint presentation, Cathedrals in Lights, which also involves Amiens in Picardy and Canterbury and Rochester cathedrals in Kent. A drive from London to Paris, using back roads and linking the cathedral cities, has been mapped.
Cathedrals in Lights is 50 per cent funded by the European Union (EU) funding stream Interreg 111, which aims to develop cultural and tourist links in border areas between member states. The aim of Cathedrals in Lights is to examine the gothic cathedrals, which are a major part of the common inheritance of France and Britain from Norman times.
The witching hour in Rouen was 10.40pm. Lights in the square were switched off and in this deeper darkness there was a click. Music blasted out from the building facing the cathedral door, from Monet's studio. Suddenly the front of the cathedral was ablaze with colour.
A huge easel in the square, where Monet used to place his, blazed too. The silence was intense. Then whispers started here and there. 'That is my favourite.' 'Look how the colours cling to the stone.' The crowd was a mix of locals, and tourists from places such as the UK and even Japan. Several were clearly repeat visitors.
Monet was born in Normandy and his brother lived in Rouen. Between 1892 and 1893, as his passion to explore light developed, he worked on his cathedral series. Seventy years later Lichtenstein fell under the spell of Monet's work and produced his own series of five cathedral paintings and then prints, enlarging the impressionist's dots.
To create the show, Rouen used Paris-based theatrical and light show company Skertzò, which has a track record of startling productions, including staging Verdi in the Stade de France. Skertzò also produced the Amiens show, which was inaugurated with different funding in 2000 and has now been extended using Interreg 111.
It involves projecting the original medieval colours in which the cathedral's main entrance was painted on to its present-day facade. The effect is a dramatic realisation of the vibrancy that a gothic cathedral would have had when it was built, with the carved doorways telling a rich story to illiterate believers.
Rouen's light show was switched on at the end of June and the city's Museum of Modern Art, which has the largest collection of impressionist paintings outside of the Quai D'Orsay in Paris, used it to promote its permanent and its temporary exhibitions.
Several of the city's restaurants had special menus that included Monet's favourite dishes. The Rochester and Canterbury shows will not be staged until September next year and their storylines are still being developed. Again, the shows will be free, which is a condition of the EU funding. The English cities are using a London company, LCI, to stage their shows.
UK heritage sites and museums are usually less generously funded by the state and local authorities than those in France. This constraint means that the Canterbury and Rochester shows are initially planned to last a week, although they might be extended if they are successful.
The Amiens and Rouen shows have been projected nightly throughout the summer. Amiens is already an annual event and Rouen is likely to become one.
In Canterbury the show will examine the cathedral through the eyes of the English painter William Turner. In Rochester, where the castle and cathedral face each other and were both built by Bishop Gundalf, an associate of William the Conqueror, the theme will be the often turbulent, irreligious and bloody relationship between church and state.
Ed Woollard, the principal tourism development officer at Medway Council and the Rochester project coordinator, says the partnership with the French cities began through links made through other European-funded projects.
Someone working at Canterbury met someone involved with the original Amiens project and was fascinated. Amiens was already working with Rouen. Medway's involvement in other European funded projects includes one that examines shared maritime history.
Woollard says Rochester is planning to stage re-enactments of some of the more dramatic encounters from the history of the castle and cathedral. 'We envisage Norman soldiers in the battlements. There will be music and lots of clever lighting.'
The budget for the Rochester project is £50,000 and the aim is to stage a big event that lasts one week, rather than a longer running, less dramatic presentation. More events could follow if this show is a success.
Woollard says that the shared project allows the four cities to pool experience. The French were years ahead in terms of use of light and sound - but the English had other strengths, such as marketing.
'I am sure it will be a real success. We will promote it heavily. There is a leaflet as well as a website which promotes the four cathedral cities together. The French are doing their shows this year and promoting ours for next year.'
Interreg 111, as with many EU funding streams, has complicated rules. England can work with France - but not, for instance, with Belgium, unless it is a tripartite project, with France providing a link between its two neighbours.
The light show at the cathedral in Amiens has been a great success, drawing in more than a million visitors over the past four years. France has a long history of using light and sound to enliven historic sites, attract visitors and put flesh on to the past.
The success of these shows has already attracted considerable interest among museums, galleries and historical sites in the UK. Not least of these is the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, which has its own dramatic light installation, which is designed to help visitors think about war.
The continental experience of light shows, particularly at cathedrals and castles in France and Germany, was the starting point for this installation.
