As Lumiere light festival return to Durham, The Northern Echo asks readers to vote for the best ever installation

First staged in 2009, Lumiere attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the city’s streets each night with art works from the awe-inspiring to the whimsical.

Northern Echo journalists have selected an unscientific shortlist of five of our personal favourites over the last six years to choose from. We will publish the winner during this year’s four-day festival which starts on Thursday.

1. Crown of Light –spellbinding son et lumiere, including excerpts from the Lindisfarne Gospels, projected onto the magnificent backdrop of Durham Cathedral. The only installation to run for three successive festivals, starting in 2009.

2. Elephantastic – who in their right mind doesn’t want to see a gigantic elephant’s backside swaying majestically on Elvet Bridge? Most talked about installation of 2013.

3. Keyframes –dancing stickmen in an animated tribute to Durham’s mining heritage which stopped crowds on North Road in 2013.

4. I Love Durham – city’s famed Market Place statue encased in a dome and turned into a giant neon snow globe, which was among the most popular attractions of Lumiere 2011.

5. Solar Equation – scaled down simulation of The Sun suspended over Durham University’s Science site was a hit in 2013. Teething troubles on first night produced memorable line from organisers “we’re confident that The Sun will come up tomorrow”.

And here’s another five which just missed the shortlist:

6. Rainbow – visitors given chance to walk through a rainbow, transforming Prebends Bridge into a kaleidoscope of colour.

7. Spirit – magical fire garden created in and around Durham Cathedral.

8. Les Voyageurs – ghostly flying figures which took to the night sky over The Bailey.

9. Splash – technicolour waterfall which cascaded from Kingsgate Bridge

10. Aquarium – telephone kiosk transformed into illuminated aquarium with live fish in the Market Place