THE Lumiere light festival attracted record numbers as the final night on Sunday saw tens of thousands of people flood into Durham City.

First estimates put the number of visitors at about 200,000 attending the festival over four nights.

The festival was produced by Artichoke and commissioned by Durham County Council with additional support from Arts Council England and a raft of sponsors.

Once again, the city became a new and temporary community of international artists, local people, arts professionals and visitors, all united by a mutual interest in art and a hunger for a "transformative collective experience".

Audiences braved the elements to see 29 extraordinary art installations spread across the city centre, including a whale in the River Wear, a ghostly fog beneath the Durham Cathedral, and 250 local people storming the 50 metre-high arches of Durham Viaduct, in Asalto Durham - a projected artwork by Spanish artist Daniel Canogar.

On Saturday, Lumiere’s organisers paid tribute to the victims of the Paris attacks, lighting up Durham Cathedral in tricolour colours in-between shows of The World Machine - the new son et lumiere by Ross Ashton, John Del’Nero and Isobel Waller-Bridge.

Inside the cathedral, visitors were mesmerised by Miguel Chevalier’s Complex Meshes dancing on the ceiling of the central nave, and the accompanying score by Italian musician Jacopo Baboni Schilingi.

Mick Stephenson’s replica of the cathedral’s Rose Window made from recycled plastic bottles for the Litre of Light charity campaign, delighted audiences in the Cathedral Cloister, as did Tilts’ tropical Garden of Light in the Cathedral College and along South Bailey and Prebends Bridge.

Mysticete, Catherine Garret’s extraordinary three-dimensional whale in the river, was a firm festival favourite. It had to be cancelled last night (Sunday, November 15) due to adverse weather conditions and rising water levels, while the river banks were closed as well.

Artichoke director Helen Marriage, Director of Artichoke said: “I’m thrilled with the response to this year’s programme. Judging from the reaction of the public on the streets and on social media, people have loved it, and the rain did nothing to dampen spirits.

“I’ve been told of overheard conversations between people deeply engaged in debating art and its extraordinary power to make you think and feel differently.

"This is why we do the things we do and I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to know that we have succeeded.

“It was such a shame to have had to cancel Mysticète on the final night because of the weather, but I’m glad we managed to get through with just one cancellation.

“All my thanks to the excellent teams working behind the scenes, to Durham County Council and the volunteer Festival Makers, and to all of our sponsors for making this wonderful event happen.”