Embracing the long, dark winter evenings of northern Europe, the Copenhagen Light Festival could not have been better timed.

Scheduled to last from February 1-24, the aim was to bring 20 percent more people outside than would normally venture out – and armed with 40 amazing light installations and the knowledge that there were 130,000 unique visitors last year, optimism was high that the foot traffic would be substantial.

For an installation to be included, it needed to be both beautiful and captivating, as well as including sculptural elements.

At the opening event, the Scottish rock band Black Sun played to those gathered, as the organiser proclaimed: “Let there be light” – or words to that effect.

Among the guests were two brothers. While Jesper Kongshaug (right) is a light expert, Anders Kongshaug (left) was busy launching a new app, ‘Within 10 Minutes’, which festival-goers used to find the installations.

As part of the festivities, a kilometre-long laser beam was launched across the Copenhagen sky, and all the other installations lit into life.