Ancient Acre fortress comes alive in a new sound and light show

The nearly $5 million project inaugurated this summer with funding by the Israeli Tourism Ministry and the Acre Municipality in a bid to draw visitors back to the city.

By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS

The ancient fortress walls of the historic northern Israeli port city of Acre were aglow in multiple colors on Monday night as a new sound and light show premiered during a holiday street festival.

The audiovisual project, which coincides with the annual Acre Street festival underway this week during the week-long holiday of Sukkot, comes as the mixed ancient old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, seeks to revitalize its image after three years of regional war and local turmoil.

The state-of-the-art video spectacle projected on the historic stone walls of the Knights’ Halls fortress during the evening showings depicts the mixed city’s history from the ancient world through the Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, and Ottoman periods up to the modern State of Israel.

The 35-minute production features music and dynamic visuals but no narration or dialogue.

The nearly $5 million project inaugurated this summer with funding by the Israeli Tourism Ministry and the Acre Municipality in a bid to draw visitors back to the city saw the installation of 22 video-art projectors and over 6 miles of fiber-optic cable in the inner courtyard of the Crusader fortress in Old Acre, which survived millennia of foreign empires’ conquests and war.

The visual content for the sound and light was created by the French video mapping company Cosmo AV, which also took part in the 2024 reopening show of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

“After several difficult years for the city and other northern cities, it is moving to bring Acre back to a symbol of coexistence,” said Acre Mayor Ohad Segev. “Acre must come back not just as a symbol for us but for the whole State of Israel.”

At a showing Monday night, an outdoor Israeli cat sat mesmerized on the ancient steps adjacent to the fortress walls during the start of the production before meandering away some minutes later.

Entry to this week’s holiday street festival is free, while admission to the sound and light show, which runs at 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., is 59 shekels or $20.