WEEK OF LIGHT

Evening Star, Issue 20140, 3 April 1929, Page 7

WEEK OF LIGHT

BERLIN'S SPECIAL EFFORT Not long since was observed what is known as “Die Lichtwoche The Week of Light—this being Berlin’s version of the “Brighter London” movement, says the 1 Christian Science Monitor.’ It pursued two aims; first to add to the Gorman capital’s attraction, thereby drawing the desired foreign visitors, and, secondly, to show how much more desirable it is to have a well-lighted city instead of the gloomy thoroughfares significant of: Berlin since the war. “ The Week of Light” was literally a brilliant success, nothing similar having been seen here since the first emperor’s nineteenth birthday Fairyland can only describe the busy Leipziger S'trasse and the “Linden,” where thousands of electric bulbs represented the Milky Way and illuminated the rows of almost leafless trees.

Many of the chief buildings, such as the Reichstag, the State theatres, and the great department stores, .were batlnng in dazzling light, some shaded in soft colours with really beautiful effect, while the fine Charlottehblirg Schloss, like a. few other edifices, was illuminated from all sides by searchlights, Illuminated columns of fantastic build were placed in conspicuous places, and not the least .appreciated features' of the Light Week were an illuminated corso of automobiles ! and a historical pageant. • Over 400 shops competed for municipal prizes offered for the best illuminated window decoration Many thousands of Berliners passed the windows and thronged the streets, for they enjoy nothing so much as a show of this bind; in fact, the lights had io be finally switched off long aftei midnight before the crow'ds wmuld disperse. Twelve window' of a largo department store deserve special mention; the background was of double and triple glass plates in the form, of a colossal fan. Pressed between -the glass were flowers and foliage in tasteful designs and colouring, each window presenting a different study for various seasons and occasions. :