Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, welcomes the holiday season by lighting up one-of-a-kind Christmas tree. In 2019 Vilnius Christmas tree was awarded the title of the Most Beautiful Christmas Tree in Europe. And this time around the Christmas tree is bound to be a reflection of the exceptional year.
Visually, the Christmas tree looks like a surrealist picture – a modern 24-meter tall composition is surrounded by 6,000 live and fragrant branches decorated with almost 4 km of colour-changing RGB Christmas lights, 800 silver ornaments, and 150 sq. m of shining mirrors.
The state-of-the-art installation is actually twofold: the spatial placement of metal structures creates several mirror-adorned areas while the inside is made to look cosy, home-like, and intimate with a live Christmas tree decorated with pine cones and lanterns. To make it eco-friendly, the lights are powered with electricity generated by processing old coffee grounds. «Vilnius Christmas tree is surreal, unexpected yet amazing nevertheless» says Remigijus Šimašius, Mayor of Vilnius.
Holiday lights will adorn the streets from the Old Town, the center, and the parks, to the neighbouring houses and shop windows, and even more remote areas of the city.
Vilnius brings in innovative solutions by exploiting the benefits of virtual reality and moving traditional Christmas fairs online – to an e-Christmas Fair. Shoppers will have the chance to purchase original gifts and products that would have been sold in a real Christmas Town around the Christmas tree. This makes the arrangement ideal for participating in Vilnius Christmas fairs without even setting one’s foot out of the house.
So, this year Vilnius puts all efforts into having a safe Christmas in the hopes of making sure that next year all visitors will be able to return to the city for Christmas events in full force.
AMAZING WHENEVER YOU’LL BE ABLE TO COME
Vilnius is unable to welcome tourists this Christmas season – same as most beloved tourist destinations of the world. However, the city is sending a message to tourists that they are welcome anytime, whenever they are able to travel again, by launching a new sequel to its tourism campaign series, entitled “Christmas in Vilnius: Amazing Whenever You’ll Be Able to Come”.
The campaign’s previous chapter, entitled “Vilnius: Amazing Wherever You Think It Is”, was recognized as the Best Communications Strategy at “City, Nation, Place Awards 2020″ in November. The campaign used the city’s obscurity as a tool to draw more tourists. It implemented fantasy-like images of the supposed Vilnius location: underwater, on a strange Moon-like surface or hanging on a cliff floating in the air. The current campaign reflects upon the changed global situation.
The campaign sequel has a fantasy-like futuristic visual that imagines what Vilnius Christmas would look like in the future, when centuries-old city’s architecture witnesses flying cars and perhaps a technological Christmas Tree.
Go Vilnius agency, November 28, Dicember 4, 2020
