A STUNNING sound and light installation at Carlisle’s 900-year-old cathedral will be the centrepiece for a spectacular new ‘City of Lights’ event this February.

As well as seeing an array of historic buildings and landmarks illuminated with brightly coloured lights and projections over four days (from February 12 to 15), Carlisle will be the first location in northern England to host The Great Exhibition – SPACE: God, the Universe and Everything, created by the award-winning Luxmuralis artistic collaboration.

The stunning light and spectacle will illuminate the interior of the ancient building, allowing visitors to walk among the stars, discover planets and explore to the edge of the Milky Way and back.

It will be the first time this immersive exhibition has been seen in the north of England, after capturing the public’s imagination when it reanimated the architecture of Lichfield Cathedral and St Albans Cathedral.

Carlisle’s wider four-day City of Lights event will also include a series of eye-catching light displays and projections throughout the historic city centre, including The Citadel – Carlisle’s most iconic set of buildings, originally built on the orders of Henry VIII in 1542.

Paul Walker, destination manager at Carlisle City Council, said: “This is the first event of its kind for the city.

“Carlisle Cathedral is the perfect place to contemplate the mysteries of space and the place of human beings within it. It will be a spectacular, unmissable experience which will dazzle your eyes and expand your horizons to infinity.

“It is also the ideal centrepiece for Carlisle’s new City of Lights event and we hope visitors will agree that this unique experience will be out of this world.”

The event is supported by Carlisle City Council and Cumbria County Council, alongside a range of partners including Story Contracting and the Railway Heritage Trust.

There is also an exciting opportunity for local schools to enter a team in the ‘Nightgeist’ competition at Tullie House. Taking place on the evening of Thursday, February 13, the event will see teams from four local schools compete to create the best lighting display in the museum.

Each team will be given a set of lights and LEDs, instructions on how to use them, a mentor from the lighting company and a designated area of the museum to work on their own creative display. The displays will be judged by a team of experts, with prizes for the winning project.

Paul Musgrave, the county council’s area manager for Carlisle, said: “The lighting installations will showcase the city and help draw people towards the high street and the variety of night-time attractions, restaurants and bars in the city centre and historic quarter.

“The SPACE event at the Cathedral will be a first for the city and I can’t wait to see it brought to life in such a striking way. The competition at Tullie House provides an opportunity for younger people to engage with the project and to put their creativity and imagination to the test.

“It’s set to be a fantastic event for the city and I very much hope we can build on it in future years.”

Tickets for ‘The Great Exhibition – SPACE: God, the Universe and Everything,’ cost £5 for adults and £4 for under 16s. Available from Carlisle Tourist Information Centre, the Old Town Hall or from discovercarlisle.co.uk