Ljubljana christmas december
Photo credit: Ljubljana Tourism Photo Library, Jani Zalaznik

December, the festive month that usually welcomes guests and visitors to Ljubljana with all-around-town-celebrations, will be in 2020 of course different than other years. However, despite the new world’s situation, Ljubljana will be no less beautiful. This year the walk from November with the switch on of the illuminated decorations to the first days of January will still bring joy, but just in a calmer package.

Ljubljana christmas december
Photo credit: Ljubljana Tourism Photo Library, Jani Zalaznik

On 27th of November, Ljubljana switched on the decorative lights in a silent and secretive manner. This year there were no crowds awaiting for this special moment, but the locals are happy nonetheless. The city decided to decorate its streets and buildings despites the difficult times or, in fact, exactly for this reason. For the difficult times. As the Municipality of Ljubljana says on its website, »Holidays bring us a feeling of warmth, homeliness and faith in a better tomorrow – and this is very important in the current uncertain times. Especially now we need positive messages, compassion, mutual understanding and respect, and solidarity.«

For these reasons, the central theme of the Ljubljana’s decorative lights, as designed and set by Urban Modic, are this year presenting ‘the vulnerability and endurance of life’ with the title »Long Live!«. Ljubljana’s lights and decorations make for a really magical and fairytale-like display, acclaimed as one of the most beautiful and imaginative ones in Europe. Festive lights are well-known for their uniqueness as they resemble images of the universe taken by NASA. The display has been every year upgraded as an ongoing project.

This year, however, the illuminations have been additionally updated. “By decorating, we will also touch on the current situation, look to the future and symbolically overcome the inconveniences that turned our world upside down,” the author of the lights, Urban Modic, is quoted on Ljubljana Tourism’s website. As a whole, the decoration emphasizes the general tendency towards balance and equivalence. In the hope for 2021. For better and calmer times.

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