Starry sky illumination, LED cornflowers. How Vitebsk decorated for Slavianski Bazaar

“The city leadership set the task of enlivening the city at night for Vitebsk’s Foundation Day and the 35th International Festival of Arts Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk. An original lighting system, the Starry sky illumination, appeared above the pedestrian Suvorov Street. Its length is about 5 km; a total of 170 strands were installed, almost a million LED pixels. In the evening, residents and guests of the regional center will be able to enjoy the magical atmosphere of a meteor shower right above their heads,” Vasily Belousov said.

The streets of the city, including the major thoroughfares, also received a new look. “About 50 LED fixtures shaped like white-and-blue cornflowers, symbols of the Slavianski Bazaar, were installed this year on the outdoor lighting poles along Frunze Avenue. Moskovsky Avenue, in the area of the Bilevo neighborhood, was transformed thanks to 22 original LED structures of unusual shape: colorful zigzag flags. Svobody Square now features LED garlands and zigzags. Lenin Street received 52 zigzag curtains. More than 200 fixtures were installed on lighting poles along Frunze, Chernyakhovsky, and Moskovsky Avenues, as well as Kalinin and Pravda Streets. Suspended above the roadways, LED panels depicting city landmarks: the Summer Amphitheater, the Dukhovskoi Kruglik exhibition hall, the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee building, the town hall, and others, can be seen; these were installed last year,” Vasily Belousov added.

The architectural lighting of buildings on Kirov Street has been brought into a unified concept. “Repairs were carried out, more than 800 lamps were replaced. The lower parts of the buildings now have a warm yellow color, while the upper parts are white and cool. The yellow light emphasizes the texture of the building, creating a sense of coziness and historical continuity; the white adds strictness and highlights key accents,” the director explained.

He clarified that all these ideas were implemented with the help of the enterprise’s electrical technician Polina Rogovskaya, who worked on the design of the future LED structures.

The electrical technician described how these ideas were brought to life: “Together with the city leadership and the enterprise director, we thought about how to decorate the city. At the core are Vitebsk’s main accents: its old architectural buildings and historical past. For example, this year in Winners’ Park, light fixtures depicting the flame of the Eternal Flame appeared near the memorial complex dedicated to Soviet soldiers-liberators, partisans, and underground fighters of the Vitebsk region.”

A truck-mounted aerial lift capable of working at a height of 36 meters is used to install the LED structures. “The city leadership provided an advance payment for purchasing the machine; the rest we will pay ourselves. For now, this is the only such aerial lift in Vitebsk Oblast’s public utilities. It will service all architectural lighting in the city and be used for installing the New Year tree. These machines are produced by the enterprise Vitstroytechmash,” Vasily Belousov said.