Luxmuralis bring medieval-themed light display Fantastic Tales and Where to Find Them to St Augustine’s Abbey and the King’s School in Canterbury

A colourful light show is bringing history to life with stunning audio-visual effects.

The team at Luxmuralis will return to the county this month for nine days of stunning projections, which will cover the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury.

The new show, named Fantastic Tales and Where to Find Them, is part of the ongoing Canterbury Festival and will transform the abbey, as well as the walls of the nearby King’s School, into an Anglo-Saxon tapestry.

The immersive experience will fuse historical imagery with innovative technology and a captivating soundscape.

The illuminations will include religious manuscripts, artefacts from the Middle Ages and images from the British Library to bring the intricate patterns and vibrant colours from the era into the modern day.

This year’s new light show marks the third time that artistic collaboration Luxmuralis has been part of the Canterbury Festival programme.

In 2022, the creative team brought their show, Shine: Let There Be Light, to Canterbury Cathedral and then returned to the historic building in 2023 for their Renaissance display.

This year is the first time that the festival’s multi-sensory display has been at St Augustine’s Abbey, an English Heritage site dating back to AD 597, and the King’s School, Britain’s oldest public school that can name the likes of Christopher Marlowe and Michael Morpurgo as former pupils.

Fantastic Tales and Where to Find Them runs from Friday, December 13 to Saturday, December 21. You can book tickets online here.

The tour is expected to take between 30 to 45 minutes. Please note, the route is not suitable for pushchairs, buggies, wheelchair users or those who are sensitive to flashing lights.