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Ville de Mons_Oswald Tlr.Entering the light. A need to illuminate the world.
After enchanting thousands of visitors, Mons en Lumières returns from January 22 to 25, 2026 for a new edition that promises to light up the heart of the historic city center. For four evenings, the city transforms into a vast luminous setting where architectural heritage, culture, and imagination intertwine.
Explore the new 3-kilometer route, winding through the city’s streets, squares, and iconic sites, featuring 15 spectacular light installations.
NEW: For the first time, Mons en Lumières continues over a second weekend at SPARKOH! in Frameries, completely transformed for the occasion. From February 13 to 14, 2026, visitors can experience the magic of Mons en Lumières in a different, more intimate setting, at the heart of a former industrial site turned center of knowledge and discovery.
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The Mons en Lumières 2026 Route
The luminous route stretches nearly three kilometers through the historic center of Mons, offering an immersive walk that blends heritage and contemporary creation. The installations transform the city’s iconic sites, revealing its architecture from a fresh perspective, combining unexpected viewpoints and captivating light effects.
This edition coincides with the closing weekend of the exhibition, at the CAP, creating a sensitive dialogue between pictorial and light art, exploring color, emotion, and perception. The route includes both new spaces and must-see sites, alternating monumental, poetic, and interactive works.
Wandering through streets and gardens, visitors experience a sensory journey shaped by lights, projections, and soundscapes. The route invites contemplation and reverie, while highlighting the artistic and heritage richness of Mons.
Spotlight on selected works
Between memory and grandeur, the Place Léopold is illuminated in a new way with "Lampe-moi", a monumental installation by the TILT collective. Giant architect-style lamps lean benevolently toward passersby, while large spotlights reminiscent of flashlights transform the square into a dynamic stage of beams and colors. Visitors are invited to sit, observe, and share in this urban light theater, where everyday objects become sculptures. Balancing poetry and design, "Lampe-moi" redirects light to reveal human scale and the beauty of the familiar, reminding us that the city is first and foremost a space to live and dream together.
Presented as a circle of light, "Point of (No) Return" invites visitors to observe ice melting and freezing in response to their presence. Light reacts to movement: approaching triggers thawing, stepping back restores the cold, culminating in a final storm symbolizing the climatic point of no return. Sensors, projections, and an immersive soundscape convey the fragility of life and human responsibility. The work creates a dialogue between art, science, and ecology, reminding us that every action alters the balance of the world.
With "Héliotrope", the Luminariste collective transforms the Collegiate Church of Saint Waltrude into a sacred space bathed in light and sound. Five suspended discs emit moving halos inspired by rose windows, sunflowers, and the solar cycle, creating a continuously evolving luminous landscape. Organic sounds — wind, murmuring water, bee vibrations — accompany the light beams in a six-minute contemplative loop. The installation offers a form of symbolic light therapy, a suspended moment where light becomes breath and stone resonates.
🎇 Experience a sparkling weekend in Mons
Looking for a cultural and luminous getaway in Belgium? Treat yourself to a unique weekend in Mons, blending art, discovery, and relaxation.
Set out to explore Mons with a greeter — a passionate local who will show you the city through personal stories and favourite spots. Continue your cultural journey with tickets to the “David Hockney” exhibition at the CAP, an unmissable experience for lovers of contemporary art. In the evening, let yourself be enchanted by “Mons en Lumières”, a magical illuminated trail through the heart of the city — a moment you won’t want to miss.
Book your stay in Mons now and enjoy unforgettable experiences.
Mons en Lumières continues at SPARKOH!
The experience continues from February 13 to 14, 2026 at SPARKOH! in Frameries, completely transformed for the occasion.
It offers visitors the chance to relive the spirit of Mons en Lumières in a different, more intimate setting, at the heart of a former industrial site turned center for knowledge and discovery.
This new edition, conceived by the City of Mons in collaboration with UMons and MUMONS, revolves around the theme: "Entering the light. A need to illuminate the world." Inspired by the Électrique exhibition, this edition explores light as a bridge between art and science, both a physical phenomenon and a symbol of knowledge, awareness, and human connection.
The Électrique exhibition, created by MUMONS, investigates the fascinating powers of electricity and its role in shaping the modern world. It highlights how energy flows, transforms, and powers our societies, creations, and dreams.
Mons en Lumières 2026 invites artists to extend the reflection on light within the urban space through installations where light becomes alive, vibrant, and perceptible. This edition is a celebration of the beauty of the visible and the sensible, offering an immersive route where light pulses, fragments, and renews itself to stimulate curiosity, emotion, and contemplation.
In a world saturated with images and accelerated rhythms, the event provides a suspended moment, a collective pause that encourages attention, feeling, and understanding. Through this theme, the City of Mons, alongside its partners — UMons, MUMONS, the municipality of Frameries, and SPARKOH! — reaffirms its commitment to cross-disciplinary collaboration, connecting perspectives and creating a space for dialogue where art and science come together to illuminate the world in a new way.