Illuminate Festival: Derry's historic past put up in lights

Some of Londonderry's most iconic landmarks are to be transformed as part of an arts festival celebrating 1,000 years of the city's history.

The Illuminate Festival uses digital animations projected onto the city's buildings to give life to some of the most dramatic moments of Derry's past.

It gets under way on Thursday and runs over the next two weekends.

Organisers promise "something that's never been done here before".

"For us, it was also a chance to tell the story of this city in the most interesting way possible," said Ryan Vail of Visual Spectrum Studio.

"We have so many amazing stories from the past, this was our chance to use our skills to bring them to life through animation and a format that everyone can enjoy."

At six locations in the heart of the city, key moments in Derry's story are coming alive.

The city's walls, overlooking the Bogside, are the backdrop to bloody battles between Viking invaders and Derry's MacLochlainn family, while the 1688 Siege of Derry is being retold at Castle Gate.

The history of the early walled town and of the first Anglican cathedral built in Ireland is explored at St Columb's Cathedral, while at the Guildhall people will see 1789-1932, the years Derry came to maritime and commercial prominence, explored.

Echo Echo Theatre provides the platform for a retelling of the Troubles in the city, while at St Columb's Hall the modern day and what is yet to come is celebrated.

The festival also features a trail of light through the city centre and a series of musical performances.

Derry's mayor said visitors can expect a "completely new and unique" festival experience.

"This is a historic city, steeped in culture and heritage, and Illuminate shines a light on all these elements," Graham Warke added.

Using technology to give new life to history is a process not without its challenges, Ryan Vail said.

"The biggest technical challenge for us is definitely the Guildhall show, which is a full-scale mapped projection show.

"To do this we had the whole building 3D scanned. We then created multiple layers within the scan so that we can animate every detail of the building."

It is one of a number of techniques used to retell Derry's story.

"For us to debut a show of this calibre here is very exciting especially as it's a first for Derry and Strabane," Mr Vail added.

Musicians including Kila, Neil Cowley, the Henry Girls, Roe and Glenn Rossborough are also taking part in a series of intimate gigs during the festival run.

Some traffic diversions will be in place during the festival which runs from Thursday to Sunday and again from 24 to 27 February.