Lumiart Dubrovnik: three evenings of light in the Old Town

For three evenings each autumn, light artists take over the Old Town of Dubrovnik. 3D projections run across the façade of the Sponza Palace, a laser harp plays in the Rector's Palace, and children play with light in Pile Park. This is Lumiart, the city's international festival of light, held since 2019. The Dubrovnik Tourist Board organises it with the studio Pixel Design, with support from the City of Dubrovnik. Its artistic director is Tomislav Nadramija.

The festival lasts three evenings, Friday to Sunday, in the open streets and squares. In 2026 entry was free, and the installations ran from 18:00 to 23:00. The main projections on the Sponza Palace repeat at set times through the evening. The sixth edition, from 16 to 18 October 2026, honoured the Dubrovnik scientist Marin Getaldić, who died 400 years earlier.

Projections, installations and electronic music

Lumiart turns the Old Town into a stage for light installations, projections, new media, technology and art, as the festival site puts it. The centrepiece is 3D mapping, animation fitted to the shape of a building. Around it stand interactive installations that react to visitors, and evening sets of electronic music with live visuals. The International Light Festivals Organisation lists Lumiart as a member. It describes the festival as a three-day event with interactive content, plus workshops and lectures on multimedia production for different age groups.

Artists come from Croatia and abroad. Recent programmes listed Pixel Design, Visualia group, Loop production and Prolight from Croatia, FényHangÁr and Night projection from Hungary, Radu Ignat from Romania and Edina Seleskovic from the United States. Local schools and museums join in. In 2023 the Sponza Palace showed projections from a workshop with the Marin Getaldić elementary school and the Dubrovnik Natural History Museum. In 2024 the Dubrovnik school of economics and trade presented a piece on Hedy Lamarr, one of the notable women in technology.

Sponza, Stradun and Pile: where the light goes

The map changes from edition to edition, and a core of places returns. The Sponza Palace on Luža Square, at the eastern end of Stradun, carries the main 3D mapping shows. In 2025 the festival used 13 locations in the Old Town, according to HRT. It lit up the three big towers, Lovrijenac, St John and Minčeta, and projected onto the northern and western city walls. Places used in recent editions:

• Sponza Palace: 3D mapping every year, plus the evening audiovisual sets of Pixel Design.
• Rector's Palace: a laser harp in 2023 and 2026.
• Stradun: projections along the street, with stilt walkers in white light in 2024.
• Cathedral: the 3D mapping 1700 years of St. Blaise in 2023 and 2024.
• Pile Gate and Pile Park: interactive light works, a body-tracking game in 2023 and a Light Playground in 2026.
• Držić Square, Gundulić Square, Peskarija at the old port, Onofrio's Fountain and the city walls: installations in recent editions.

The editions so far

Lumiart started in 2019, according to the festival site and the International Light Festivals Organisation. The organisers counted the 2026 edition as the sixth. The festival site publishes the programmes of recent years, and the dates show a clear rhythm:

• 2019: the first edition.
• 2023: Friday 3 to Sunday 5 November, 19:00 to 23:00.
• 2024: Friday 8 to Sunday 10 November, 19:00 to 23:00, with the 3D mapping Evolution of Light on the Sponza Palace.
• 2025: Friday 7 to Sunday 9 November, with an underwater city as the theme. Jellyfish, fish and mermaids swam across palace and fortress façades, HRT reported.
• 2026: Friday 16 to Sunday 18 October, the sixth edition, dedicated to Marin Getaldić.

Marin Getaldić and his burning mirror

Marin Getaldić was born on 2 October 1568 and died on 11 April 1626. He came from a noble family of the Republic of Ragusa, the old Dubrovnik state. He studied in Italy, England and Belgium. In Padua he met Galileo Galilei and kept up a correspondence with him. His main work was in geometrical optics and in applying algebra to geometry. In 1606 the Republic sent him as its envoy to Constantinople.

Getaldić built a parabolic mirror 66 centimetres across. It is kept today at the National Maritime Museum in London. He tested burning mirrors, which focus sunlight into a point of heat, in a cave in Dubrovnik. The cave carries his nickname to this day: Bete's Cave. In October 2026 the Dubrovnik Natural History Museum ran a workshop called the Legend of the Wizard Bete.

The City of Dubrovnik marks 2026 as the Year of Marin Getaldić. Its programme lists a central exhibition of the Dubrovnik Museums in the Rector's Palace in May, lectures, a comic and picture books. Lumiart 2026 built its concept on his themes: optics, geometry, mirrors and the study of light.

Watching Lumiart

Lumiart takes place outdoors, in the public streets and squares of the Old Town. In 2026 the organisers listed free entry. The programme starts after dark. In 2026 the installations ran from 18:00 to 23:00, in 2023 and 2024 from 19:00 to 23:00. Timed works repeat through the evening. In 2024 the mapping Evolution of Light started on the hour from 19:00. In 2026 the mapping competition on the Sponza Palace screened at 19:45, 22:15 and 22:45.

• In 2026 local media carried the detailed programme with times and places on 15 October, the day before the opening. The organisers noted that it could change at short notice.
• During the 2026 festival the city switched off public lighting between 18:00 and 23:00 from Pile Gate along Stradun, in front of the Sponza Palace and the Rector's Palace, on Gundulić Square and at Peskarija. The tourist board asked visitors to take extra care when walking.
• On the 2026 opening night the crowd on Stradun was dense, the local portal Juginfo reported. A spot on Luža Square a few minutes before a timed show gives a clear view of the Sponza Palace.
• The interactive works stood at Pile Gate and in Pile Park in recent years, a short walk from the bus stop at Pile.

Getting to the Old Town

City buses run by Libertas end at Pile, outside Pile Gate at the western end of Stradun. Lines 1A and 1B from Mokošica, 2A from Glavica, 3 from Nuncijata, 4 from Hotel Palace, 6 from Babin Kuk, 9 from Gorica and 17 from Bosanka all terminate there. A ticket bought on the bus costs 2.50 euro, a 24-hour ticket 5.31 euro, according to the Libertas price list.

From Dubrovnik Airport, the Platanus shuttle leaves about 30 minutes after each flight arrival. It reaches Ploče Gate, on the eastern side of the Old Town, in about 35 minutes. A single ticket costs 10 euro, a return 15 euro. More options are in our airport transfer guide. Libertas suburban buses link Cavtat with the city for 4.00 euro one way.

Dubrovnik in October and November

Lumiart falls in the mild part of the Dubrovnik autumn. At the Dubrovnik station of the national weather service DHMZ, October averages 18.0 °C, with rain on about 10 days and around 200 hours of sun. November averages 14.1 °C, with rain on about 13 days. The figures cover 1961 to 2024. Evenings by the sea call for a jacket, and an umbrella helps in November.

The festival closes a day in the Old Town well. Walk the city walls in the afternoon, eat early and stay on Stradun for the projections. Our guide to Dubrovnik in October covers the weather, cruise days and what stays open. What to see in Dubrovnik lists the sights between the walls and the sea.

Lumiart 2027

As of 20 October 2026, the organisers have announced no date for Lumiart 2027. The festival site and the tourist board still list the 2026 edition. The documented editions follow a pattern: three evenings, Friday to Sunday, in autumn.

From 2023 to 2025 Lumiart ran in the first half of November. In 2026 it moved to mid-October. The 2026 date took shape in steps. The tourist board announced that it would reveal the dates at a preview show in front of the Sponza Palace on 19 June. In August the festival was announced for 23 to 25 October, and it later moved a week earlier. The 2027 date needs official confirmation at lumiart-dubrovnik.com or from the Dubrovnik Tourist Board. Dates already fixed for other events are in our Croatia 2027 festival calendar.

Lumiart 2026 in review

The sixth Lumiart ran from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 October 2026. Its theme was the 400th anniversary of the death of Marin Getaldić, with a concept built on optics, geometry, mirrors and light. Two previews ran on the Sponza Palace before it, on 19 June from 21:30 to 23:15 and on 29 August from 21:30 to 23:00. The tourist board billed the June preview as the launch of a new visual identity. An open call for audiovisual artists carried a total prize fund of 4,000 euro.

On Friday at 19:00 the Sponza Palace hosted an international 3D mapping competition with works dedicated to Getaldić, screened at 19:45, 22:15 and 22:45. From 20:30 to 22:00 Pixel Live played its Audio-Visual Journey on the same façade. Installations ran each evening from 18:00 to 23:00: a laser harp at the Rector's Palace, a diaprojection on Stradun, an interactive work at Pile Gate and a Light Playground in Pile Park. More works stood at Peskarija, on the walls, at Onofrio's Fountain and on Gundulić Square.

The city switched off public lighting in the festival zone from 15 to 18 October, between 18:00 and 23:00. On opening night Stradun turned into a dance floor, and a line of dancers wound through the town, Juginfo reported. RTL showed Stradun in the dark before the projections began. Before the festival, Lumiart presented Dubrovnik at the annual meeting of the International Light Festivals Organisation in Bucharest. By 20 October the organisers had published no visitor figures and no competition results.