Illuminated River

Illuminated River is a project by artist Leo Villareal, involving a variety of permanent and colourful lighting installations on bridges across the River Thames in London.

9 bridges are currently involved in the project, from Lambeth Bridge to London Bridge. Each has its own unique architecture and history, and so the lighting is tailored to suit and complement them. The lights are positioned beneath the arches and/or along the sides of the bridge in some way, and they don’t intrude into the surrounding environment.

In most cases it involves constant, but slow and subtle, changes in colour, often moving from one side of the bridge to the other. But in a couple of cases it involves white strips of light moving in patterned waves along the side of the structure. And they all look beautiful. London is always stunning when lit up at night anyway, and I think this project is a lovely enhancement to the cityscape without being overwhelming.

I previously went to see the first 4 bridges that had their lighting unveiled back in 2019. But now that 5 more bridges have been added and there’s more freedom to travel around again, plus I have a new iPhone 13 that records in 4K and is so much better at nighttime captures than my old iPhone 6, the time was right to go and take a fresh look. And I was able to explore all of the bridges over a couple of evenings.

I also listened to the audio descriptions of all the bridges by VocalEyes, which are very useful and really interesting, because they tell you about the history and construction of the bridges, as well as describing their appearance and lighting. There are some quite surprising facts throughout, along some nice extracts from music that was specially composed for the project by students at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

So I really enjoyed seeing all of the bridges coming to life during my nice walks. As a result of which I’ve put together over an hour of footage on my Youtube channel, featuring all 9 bridges plus some other sights that caught my eye along the way, and there are chapter markers for you to jump to specific parts. I’ve also added some photos below as well. So I hope you enjoy taking a night walk along the Thames with me!

The first bridge is Lambeth Bridge, from which you can see the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye not far away.

Lambeth Bridge bathed in pink light, with blue light visible beneath its 4 arches. The Houses of Parliament and London Eye can be seen on opposite banks of the river in the background.

Close-up of an arch on Lambeth Bridge, lit up in blue beneath ornate railings.

Then there’s Westminster Bridge, right by the Houses of Parliament, with poor Big Ben still covered in scaffolding, although its restoration work is nearly complete.

Westminster Bridge, lit beneath its 7 arches in light green. The Houses of Parliament are visible on the opposite bank of the river in the background. Big Ben is covered in scaffolding with a brightly lit clock face at the top.

Close-up of the green lighting underneath one of the arches of Westminster Bridge.

Next are the Golden Jubilee Footbridges, either side of the railway on the Hungerford Bridge. I walked across both of the footbridges to appreciate the views up and down the river.

The southern Golden Jubilee Footbridge, a long flat bridge with lots of white lights along the side, and groups of suspension cables at intervals along the bridge bathed in blue and pink light.

Close-up of the northern Golden Jubilee Footbridge, where you can see the lights along the side are the vertical supports of the handrail that stretches the length of the bridge.

South view of the Thames from the Golden Jubilee footbridge, with the London Eye lit up in pink on the left as it towers high over the buildings behind it.

North view of the Thames from the Golden Jubilee footbridge, with Waterloo Bridge visible in the distance, a boat nearby on the water, and the Royal Festival Hall lit up on the South Bank with the Shard lit up behind it.

Then there’s Waterloo Bridge.

Waterloo Bridge, with alternating blue and purple light bathing the underside of its 4 wide arches, and a thin line of pink light along the top of the bridge.

View underneath Waterloo Bridge, where the underside of the bridge is bathed in alternating colours of light including red, orange and pink.

That’s followed by Blackfriars Bridge, with the railway bridge neighbouring it.

Blackfriars Bridge, with light blue illuminating the underside of its 3 arches. St Paul's Cathedral can be seen in the background.

Close-up of one of the arches of Blackfriars Bridge, with the underside bathed in a deep pink light. The Blackfriars Railway Bridge is just visible to the right.

Then there’s the Millennium Bridge that provides a connection between St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern, and was famously nicknamed the Wobbly Bridge after the issues it had when it opened (which were later fixed).

Close-up view of the Millennium Bridge, viewed towards St Paul's Cathedral on the opposite bank, as an Uber boat passes under the bridge.

The Millennium Bridge, a suspension bridge that appears to be balanced on a large Y shaped support in he centre of the river, and a similar support on each bank. The edge of the pathway has a white light along the length of the bridge. St Paul's Cathedral can be seen on the far bank.

Next we come to Southwark Bridge.

Southwark Bridge, with pink and red lighting beneath its 5 arches.

Close-up of an archway under Southwark Bridge, bathed in blue light.

And that’s followed by the Cannon Street Railway Bridge.

Cannon Street Railway Bridge, divided into 5 sections, with a thick band of coloured red or purple light along the side of each section.

Cannon Street Railway Bridge, with each of the 5 sections having a thick band of yellow, purple or red light along the side.

And finally we come to London Bridge.

London Bridge, with purple light spanning its 2 wide arches.

London Bridge, with yellow light spanning its 2 wide arches.

Of course, immediately after London Bridge is Tower Bridge, which isn’t an active part of the Illuminated River project yet, but it is planned to be part of a future expansion, which will result in a complete set of 15 artistically lit bridges from Albert Bridge in the west to Tower Bridge in the east. In the meantime however, Tower Bridge is always lit up anyway, just not in an animated fashion, and it always looks amazing. So of course I had to take a look at that too.

Tower Bridge lit up at night, with its 2 tall ornate towers linked by the road between them below and a footbridge between them near the top.

View from the road towards one of the tall ornate towers on Tower Bridge.

Looking up at one of the ornate stone towers on Tower Bridge. Two bright lights in the centre of the tower are burning down at us, as if it has 2 fiery eyes.

Ornate stone archway across the road at the entrance to Tower Bridge, with blue light on the underside of the arch.

View west along the Thames from Tower Bridge, including the Shard lit up and towering tall above the buildings on the left, and the Walkie Talkie building further along on the opposite bank.

And apart from all the bridges there were other sights to enjoy along the way, including the South Bank Winter Festival, which included an art installation of brightly lit trees called Loomin by David Ogle (one of several artworks in the area), and lots of festive decorations and stalls. And of course there were traditional sights like The London Eye and HMS Belfast that were lit up to admire as well.

The London Eye, a huge observation wheel, lit up in pink.

The Houses of Parliament lit up at night.

A tree on the South Bank of the Thames with individual branches lit up in bright green, protruding upwards and outwards from the trunk. Another tree in the background has branches lit in orange.

A tree on the South Bank of the Thames with individual branches lit up in purple, protruding upwards and outwards from the trunk, and other trees with different coloured branches in the distance.

A tree with different coloured festive lights hanging from its otherwise bare branches.

People shopping at street food stalls along the South Bank. The roofs of the stalls, along with a few tall trees in the distance, are covered in bright white lights to make them look festive.

Wall sign saying Soak Up The South Bank in large capital letters lit up in pink.

And on my way to Tower Hill station to finish my final walk, I came across a light sculpture of what I assume is a tiger by the Cento Alla Torre restaurant. I’ve no idea who it’s by or whether it has a name, but it looks pretty cool.

Sculpture of a tiger made up of bright white, long curving string lights, standing on a mirrored base.

Head-on view of a sculpture of a tiger with long whiskers, made up of bright white, long curving string lights, standing on a mirrored base.

Side view of a sculpture of a tiger, made up of bright white, long curving string lights, standing on a mirrored base.

Rear view of a sculpture of a tiger with a long tail, made up of bright white, long curving string lights, standing on a mirrored base.

So that’s it, I hope you enjoyed taking that evening walk along the Thames with me! And if you want to find out more about the bridges, check out the Illuminated River website, along with the VocalEyes audio descriptions and Google’s online exhibition.

Author: Glen

Love London, love a laugh, love life. Visually impaired blogger, culture vulture & accessibility advocate, with aniridia & nystagmus, posting about my experiences & adventures. View all posts by Glen