MONUMENT OF LIGHT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21028, 12 November 1931, Page 12

MONUMENT OF LIGHT.

MUSEUM ILLUMINATED. graphic night spectacle. CENOTAPH IN SILHOUETTE. THE SWITCHING-ON CEREMONY. Tlio pressing of an electric button, switching on simultaneously 12 great floodlights, transformed tlio War Memorial Museum at eight o'clock last night into a spectral monument of reflected white light. The beautiful and novel spectacle produced expressions of admiration from tlio 500 people assembled on the Court of Honour (o witness the turning-on ceremony and there was an involuntary outbreak of applause. For the first time the public was allowed to judge the wisdom of tho museum authorities in applying modern floodlighting principles to Auckland's noble war memorial. In tho crowds that remained round the illuminated building until a late hour nothing but admiration and approval were expressed and until midnight, when the lights were turned out, hundreds of people on tho North Shore gazed across the water to tho shining memorial conspicuous above the myriad twinkling lights of tlio city. Bathed in a soft white glow, which turned night into day, tho fine architectural proportions of tlio museum stood out in incandescent relief against the night background. Tho most striking and emotional feature, however, was the darkened silhouette of the Cenotaph, making a graphic black slash in the vast surface of light. Viewed from tho furthest end of tho Court of Honour, so that the unlightcd bulk of the Cenotaph was between tho spectator and tho lighted museum, tlio dark sombre lines of the monument had a grave and unearthly appearance that gripped even the most unemotional spectator, i'ar more so than in the light of day does the Cenotaph offer its message in tho shadows of night. Ono thing the ceremony did was to disperse the fears of those who dreaded the distortion of the architectural beauties of tho museum in artificial light. By carefully planned and judicious focusing of tho floodlights natural shadows have been preserved, so that even better than in daylight do tho fluting of the Doric columns and the dedicatory lines in the vast panel overhead obtain prominence Every architectural feature of the facade, in fact, obtains duo recognition. A brief ceremony preceded the switching on of the lights. Speeches were made by Mr. A. G. Lunn, president of the council of the Auckland Institute and Museum, Mr. Ft. E. Yaile, past-president, and Mr. W. J. Holdsworth, chairman of the Auckland Elcctric-Powcr Board, which has installed the lighting and is maintaining it free of cost. Among those present were the deputy-mayor, Mr. A. J. Entrican. Sir George Richardson and officers of the Returned Soldiers' Association and members of the Officers' Club.