Stunning video of York illuminated

Visitors are being encouraged to see some of Yorkshire’s most familiar buildings and attractions in a different light after hours – and as many as 50,000 are expected.

York Minster among the venues taking part in the city-wide Illuminating York festival, giving visitors the chance to enter the medieval cathedral after dark while simultaneously enjoying colour, light and shadow.

York Minster Nights, which runs until Saturday, also sees urban artists Black Rose creating new street-artworks on light boxes and huge canvases.

Several other attractions are involved – including Mallard and its sister locomotives the National Railway Museum while the National Trust’s Treasurer’s House has been transformed by flickering candles, eerie lighting and ghostly sound effects.

In the garden, life-size cast iron animal forms created by sculptor Andrew Kay are on display.

Other county landmarks are being seen in a new light too for the next few days, with Whitby Abbey being dramatically illuminated with hundreds of coloured floodlights and LEDs.

It is opening after dark to offer visitors a different opportunity to experience the impressive architecture and history of this atmospheric cliff top location.

English Heritage events manager Jon Hogan said: “The Illuminated Abbey is a wonderful sight, every sweeping arch highlighted and each dark corner made all the darker. Visitors have few opportunities to see such an impressive landmark in a new and exciting way.”

The Abbey is open from 6pm until 8.30pm today, tomorrow and Saturday.

Further details are online – at www.illuminatingyork.org.