'Light memories' set city on fire

'Using modern technology to bring history to life'

What will it be like later when visitors watch the Stevenskerk collapse on 21 February? Thankfully, it is a projection and not reality. Impressive it will be nevertheless.

Light artists Jaap van den Elzen and Jan Fabel use projection mapping to lay images over buildings and locations. This is how they bring a building to life, with light and sound. With four special "light memories", they visualise stories surrounding the bombardment from small and personal to very large.

"The history of the bombing of Nijmegen immediately grabbed me," says Van den Elzen. "I started looking into it and was enormously moved by the stories and the impact the bombing had on the city." That history is portrayed through a very creative process. "It is not a historiography, but an impression of what happened. We let visitors experience the stories of that day. We literally put Nijmegen city centre in a different light."

Previously, they made projections at various light art festivals, such as at Glow in Eindhoven. "The special thing is that with the light memories, both the form and the content are exactly matched. They reinforce each other and make history reliveable."

The light memories can be seen on the evening of 21 February between 7.30pm and 9.30pm. They will be repeated at the same times until Sunday, February 25.

Where do you find the 'light memories'?

(1) Molenstraatkerk: here, hundreds of lights are burning behind the pillars of the facade. The church was badly hit during the bombing.

(2) Emaushof: in this alley between the entrance to the town hall on Korte Nieuwstraat and the monument De Schommel (The Swing) there are hundreds of photos of Nijmegen victims. The light remembrance here is subdued, with photos and voices.

(3) Side of Hema: What did Nijmegen look like before the bombing? And what were the consequences after the bombing? With videos and photos of the past, visitors here get a glimpse of how the city was affected.

(4) Stevenskerk: On the west side of the tower is a spectacular display of the impact of the bombing. Here, it depicts how the tower was hit and later collapsed. The iconic and famous images of the time can be heard and seen here.