The Cathedral will open its doors at 7:30 in the morning on 2 February to host one of its best-known events. This will have a limited capacity and it will be streamed. On the previous day, 1 February, the church will host a round table about this unique light phenomenon.
The Festival of Light is a unique and fleeting event. Every 2 February and every 11 November, the sunlight that enters through the Cathedral’s main rose window – one of the largest rose windows in Europe’s Gothic cathedrals, also known as the Gothic eye – is projected just below the rose window of the interior wall of the main portal. This main rose window, with its external diameter of 11.85 metres and 1,115 panes of glass, is one of the reasons why the Cathedral of Mallorca is known as the cathedral of light along with events such as the Festival of Light.
But the special character of the Festival of Light does not end there. And the fact is that this glorification of light occurs on very notable dates. On 2 February, which is the second day of the second month, forty days after Christmas, and is when the feast of Candlemas is celebrated, which commemorates the presentation of Jesus in the temple of Jerusalem and the purification of his mother, Mary. For its part, 11 November, the eleventh day of the eleventh month, is Saint Martin’s Day.
This Wednesday, 2 February, the Cathedral will open its doors at 7:30 in the morning, 60 minutes before the phenomenon of the Festival of Light, which will happen at 8:30. This will be the second edition with the public present since the start of the pandemic, although capacity will be limited and masks must be worn at all times. For those who cannot attend, the Cathedral of Mallorca will stream the event on the its website and on its official Facebook and YouTube channels.
The Chapter invites any media that wish to attend to do so with the option of accessing the Royal Chapel to capture the phenomenon in situ. The head of the Cultural Management Department will also be available to members of the media to answer any questions they might have.
Round table: Tuesday 1 February at 19:00
Finally, it is important to note that this edition of the Festival of Light will feature some innovations. On the previous evening, the Cathedral of Mallorca will celebrate a round table with the objective of casting light on the most notable aspects of this phenomenon.
Dr Mercè Gambús will chair the round table, which will approach the Festival of Light from various perspectives: liturgical, history of the building, history of art, and maths. The speakers will be Dr Daniel Ruiz (president of the Balearic Mathematics Society SBM-XEIX), Dr Miquel Ballester (municipal architectural technician of Campos) and Monsignor Teodor Suau, dean-president of the Cathedral Chapter.
