The residents of Turku gave a delighted welcome to the Fairytale Bridges, a Christmas present from the city. The two pedestrian bridges crossing the Aura River have been transformed with lights and sounds into Fairytale Bridges for the Christmas season.

The Library Bridge gained a Christmas-themed soundscape, with the beautiful scenery of changing lights being an original feature of the bridge. Pedestrians crossing the bridge can get into the spirit of Christmas by listening to the soft instrumental Christmas music playing on the bridge. It is estimated that the opening ceremony on 27 November was attended by over 5,000 residents of the city.

- Even if you cross the bridge several times every day, you can still hear different songs until Epiphany – the selection of songs is that extensive, says Janne Auvinen, who was in charge of designing the lighting and sounds.

The Fairytale Bridges are intended as destinations for Christmas outings by families with children in particular. On the Theatre Bridge, a fairytale atmosphere is created by a fairytale forest that consists of 120 spruce trees and 6,000 LED lights. The lights on the bridge change between red, blue, green and violet, and the spotlights aimed towards the sky make snowfall seem like sparkling crystals. The mysterious and fantastic atmosphere is enhanced by the forest sounds and the whispers of elves that you can hear on the bridge.

The Fairytale Bridges remind us of the evolution of Turku as a Christmas City over the course of 20 years. The Christmas City project in 1996 marked the start of a process to compile the Christmas traditions of Turku. Among other things, this compilation of events currently comprises the Christmas programme and Christmas table settings at museums, the Christmas Market and Santa Claus at the Old Great Square, the Christmas Path event zone in the city centre, the Christmas Market at the Market Square, the illuminated Christmas tree in front of Turku Cathedral, the events organised by the congregations of Turku and now, as a new feature, the Fairytale Bridges. The plan is to add the bridges to Turku’s range of annual Christmas events.

The Fairytale Bridges are implemented by the City of Turku in cooperation with Bright Finland, Kuntec Oy, Turku Energia, Turku City Theatre, Viking Line, Holiday Club, Hesburger, HisiStudio and Griippi Oy. In connection with the opening of the Fairytale Bridges, the companies involved made a considerable donation to the Save the Children associations in the Turku region for the prevention of the social exclusion of children.

The Fairytale Bridges were designed by the light and sound designers Janne Auvinen, Eero Auvinen and Petteri Unkila.

Photographs of the Fairytale Bridges and Christmas City Turku

Further information on the Christmas City’s events and activities: www.turku.fi/christmas