Foxes, eagles, dragons and beetles – just some of the creatures you can spot scampering across the walls of York Minster over the next 20 nights.
They are part of Colour & Light 2025, the mesmerising projection bringing the South Transept to life thanks to a music and light show.
Brought to the city for the third year by the York BID (Business Improvement District), the stunning free projections are on the theme of the city’s animals – real and mythical.
Colour & Light 2025
- The free event runs nightly from 6pm to 9pm
- It is on every night from 12 February to 2 March
- The light show is projected onto the South Transept of York Minster on a ten-minute loop
- From 8pm-9pm is the quiet hour, offering a more relaxed experience with reduced noise and crowd levels
The first Colour & Light took place at York Minster in 2023, and brought the cathedral’s history to life.
Then it moved to the Art Gallery, with paintings and other artworks exploding across its facade.
Now it’s back at the Minster, shining a light on York’s wildlife heritage, from the Minster’s peregrine falcons to the horses that carried Roman soldiers into Eboracum to a very proud duck.
Carl Alsop, operations manager at York BID, picked out a few of his favourite creatures in the show. “The tansy beetle features – it has to, the tansy beetle is in only three places in the UK, and one of them is our river banks on the Ouse.
“We have a dragon. That’s definitely my favourite one. We’ve done that for a couple of reasons. Dragons are carved all through York’s past, and the Minster actually has a trail where you can go and find five different kinds of stone or wooden carved dragons.
“But also we’re a UNESCO city of Media Arts, and we have a business here, Viridian FX, who worked in a massive way on House Of The Dragon, the HBO show, to create the dragons.
“And maybe a more random one – hidden in there somewhere is a camel, and that’s because of the Merchant Taylor’s Hall. We learned all about how the camel is their sigil or emblem.”
Around 80,000 people enjoyed the last two Colour and Light projections, which bring people into York at a quieter time of year, boosting the evening economy.
Lisa Power, York Minster’s head of events and participation, said: “We are so pleased to welcome Colour & Light back to York Minster.
“The inaugural display in 2023 proved that events like this bring people together during the coldest and darkest months of the year.”