This file image shows a media art performance on Aug. 6, 2022, to celebrate the reopening of the refurbished Gwanghwamun Square. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — Two illumination festivals will hit Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul next week, lighting up the square and its surrounding areas with nightly media shows and lantern installations through the end of the year, officials said Tuesday.
The events — Seoul Light-Gwanghwa 2022 and Seoul Lantern Festival 2022 — will simultaneously run from Dec. 19 through 31 at Gwanghwamun Square, the Seoul city government and the Seoul Tourism Organization said.
Seoul Lantern Festival, held annually in the nearby Cheonggye Stream area, has been relocated to Gwanghwamun Square this year to be held concurrently with the inaugural Seoul Light-Gwanghwa festival.
During the festivals, an hourlong media art show utilizing landmark buildings along Gwanghwamun Square, including Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, will be performed every day at the beginning of each hour between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Tall lantern installations will be set up and remain alight in four sections of the square throughout the festivals.
On Dec. 31, the media show will be extended to run till midnight while a New Year’s Eve countdown event is to ring in the new year.
Through the duration of the festivals, an outdoor market involving some 50 sellers of Christmas ornaments, handicraft products and winter snacks will be open, and a 12-meter-tall Christmas tree will greet visitors.
To secure safety during the nighttime outdoor events, the city said it will conduct prior safety inspection against overcrowding and come up with safety maintenance guidelines.
(Yonhap)
