Carrieres de Lumieres, sound and light shows Paris and Provence

What do an abandoned quarry and an old iron foundry have in common? They both house magical sound-and-light shows that must be seen to be believed.

The Carrières de Lumières (“Quarries of Light”) has been operating for decades near the mountaintop fortress of Les Baux-de-Provence, and is one of the most popular tourist sites in all of Provence. It’s in an old quarry made up of three mammoth rooms carved inside a mountain. A sister site, the Atelier des Lumières (“Workshop of Light”) opened in 2018 in the 11^th arrondissement of Paris.

These stunning digital exhibitions use over 100 video projectors and a spatial sound system to recreate works of art on walls up to 10 meters high and on the floors as well. Thousands of moving images, choreographed with beautiful music, transport you into the works of art themselves.

Van Gogh in Paris and Provence

Every year a new artist is featured and for 2019 it was Vincent Van Gogh. He painted many of his masterpieces near Les Baux, in Arles and St-Rémy. Visitors to the Carrières can also visit those towns to see where he lived and worked. Van Gogh’s paintings are famously vivid and colorful and they become even more so with the digital magic of the Carrières and Atelier.

The main art programmes run throughout the day and lasts about 30 minutes. In between showings may be a shorter program on another topic.

When you are visiting Paris or Provence, add these seriously special son et Lumiere shows to your list – it will definitely perk up your day!