Pécs glows again this summer as the Zsolnay Light Festival marks its 10th edition from July 2 to 5, 2026. What began as a nighttime stroll through illuminated streets has grown into one of Europe’s most spectacular urban festivals, drawing well over 100,000 visitors each year. Across four nights, more than 30 light-based artworks transform courtyards, façades, galleries, and a handful of secret spots that open only for the festival, wrapping the city in optical play and sensory wonder.
Vasarely Takes Center Stage
This jubilee year is woven around two anniversaries: the 120th birthday of Pécs-born Victor Vasarely, godfather of Op Art, and the 50th year of the city’s Vasarely Museum. The festival’s theme, PLASTI-CITÉ // COLORFUL CITY, channels Vasarely’s kinetic illusions, inviting visitors into a world of movement, space, and light you can feel as much as see. It’s a citywide conversation with Vasarely’s legacy—bold shapes, vibrating patterns, and architecture as optical theater.
The Cathedral as a Giant Canvas
Nightly, the Zsolnay Light Art Video Mapping Competition turns the façade of the Pécs Cathedral into the festival’s biggest screen. This year, creators from Italy, China, and Bulgaria vie for the audience award with works steeped in Vasarely-inspired visuals. Alongside the competition, a special Ireland-focused piece debuts: the Kiégő Izzók (Glowing Bulbs) collective pays homage to Ferenc Martyn with a dedicated projection that reimagines his oeuvre in light.
The Light Path: 34 Stops of Immersion
The heart of the festival is the Light Path, sprawling across 15 downtown sites and 19 locations in and around the Zsolnay Quarter. Expect a roaming gallery of interactive and site-specific light works by Hungarian and international artists, each stop nudging imagination past its usual limits.
Festival MAX: Deep-Dive Experiences
This year the Zsolnay Quarter and the Kodály Centre become the engine room of Festival MAX—wristband-only zones hosting the most ambitious, immersive installations. Plan an entire evening here; these pieces reward lingering.
– Soul meets light at the Kodály Centre with Divine Geometry by Latvia’s Those Guys Lighting: a 30-minute essential light experience sculpted by 24 lasers and an original sound design. Earlier showings have moved audiences to tears—it’s that absorbing.
– In the Zsolnay Quarter’s Labor, Spain’s Marc Vilanova spins a waterfall out of light that you can literally walk through.
– At E78, the Playmodes studio builds dynamic floating light sculptures with laser beams and robotic mirrors, turning space into a choreography of gleam and motion.
– In the Pirogránit Courtyard, Vasarely’s Op Art pulses in 3D: a geometry that shifts with every step, pushing you to move, test, and decode the illusion yourself.
Hommage à Vasarely by Light
Inside the m21 Gallery, a landmark exhibition launches: Hommage à Vasarely by Light. It’s the first show in festival history that outlives the event, running through the entire summer until the end of August. Expect a deep dive into Op Art sensibilities translated into contemporary light media. Meanwhile, emerging talents from the Fényművésztelep (Light Art Residency) present their newest works throughout the Zsolnay Quarter, signaling where light art is headed next.
Downtown Icons, Reimagined
The city’s classics get a glow-up. At the Cella Septichora Visitor Centre, a pulsing light-being thrashes inside a glass cube like a digital organism trying to escape. Széchenyi Square becomes an immersive, monumental panorama of light, while Jókai Square welcomes back the festival’s beloved totem, the Pixelbogár (Pixel Bug). Inside Árkád, tech fuses with nature as a colossal LED wall conjures the memory of water—fluid, living, and strangely human.
Back to the Psychedelic ’70s
On Színház Square, New York’s Liquid Light Lab resurrects the analog light shows of the hippie era. Think Kandinsky’s color sensibility mashed with the heat of Jimi Hendrix and early Pink Floyd concerts—four nights of floating, sensual visuals under the open sky. The vibe is supercharged by Tilos Rádió (Tilos Radio) DJs, turning the square into a communal, psychedelic journey through light. This Színház Square stop is part of the USA250 commemorations.
Art for Everyone, Out in the Open
As festival director Márk Hummel puts it, Vasarely believed art is a shared language that should leave the white cube and embed itself in everyday life. The Light Path makes good on that: the city becomes an open gallery, and visitors shift from spectators to participants through interactive works that prize play, curiosity, and collective experience.
More Than Light: Street Theater and Nightlife
Beyond projections, the festival spills into every corner of Pécs with fire jugglers, acrobats, and street theater troupes. Families can dip into interactive kids’ programs and glowing craft sessions, while live gigs and electronic parties keep the pulse going late into the night. An Irish focus enriches the lineup: in addition to the Martyn tribute at the Cathedral, there’s an Irish Light Path stop and a Káptalan Street food court bringing the island’s flavors, music, and dance to the city.
Access and Tickets
All outdoor downtown programs and light artworks are free. The enclosed venues, the Zsolnay Quarter, and the special installations at the Kodály Centre are accessible with a Festival MAX wristband, on sale from May 7. Whether you wander the free routes or plunge into the premium experiences, Pécs is set to be the summer’s brightest highlight.
Pécs, July 2–5, 2026. See you in the glow.
