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Hundreds of people filled the Basilica of St. Mary on Nov. 8 to find candles floating and flickering, and a starry night twinkling against the barrel-vaulted ceiling — like a scene from Harry Potter’s Great Hall at Hogwarts.
Over the next 45 minutes, those candles and stars transformed into crashing waves, rolling clouds, architectural blueprints, Catholic iconography, unfurling vines and flowers and all sorts of gilded illusions.
The Basilica is hosting “Luminiscence,” an immersive light and sound event featuring 360-degree projections and music from a live choir, orchestra and organ. “Luminiscence,” produced by the French company Lotchi, has toured France, Spain, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
The Basilica of St. Mary series is the first time “Luminiscence” has ventured outside Europe. The Basilica will host more than 100 shows through Feb. 1, 2026.
“It brings together light, architecture, story, sound,” says Father Daniel Griffith, pastor and rector of the Basilica. “I would describe it as an experience of transcendent beauty.”
Griffith first saw the show in October at the Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux in western France, a cathedral that was built in the 12th century.
Griffith says Lotchi likely brought the show to Minneapolis because the church is known for its architecture and music, as well as its history: In 1926, Pope Pius XI named St. Mary the first Basilica in the U.S., which distinguishes it as a Catholic church with special privileges and ceremonial purposes.
The Basilica speaks
Lotchi customizes each “Luminiscence” show to its venue. In Minneapolis, the show tells the story of the Basilica through narration, using the imagined dialogue among the Basilica’s architect, the French-American Emmanuel Louis Masqueray (who here sounds a bit like Lumière from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”); one of the Basilica’s original stained glass artists, Florence Neubauer, as a young girl; and the cathedral itself, who is personified as a woman (to continue the comparison, imagine Chip and Mrs. Potts).
“It became America’s first Basilica. It got me so excited,” Neubauer says, beginning the story. “I was one of 20,000 people who attended the laying of the cornerstone in 1908.”
Masqueray, who was considered a leader of Beaux-Arts architecture, shares how he designed the altar, sanctuary and 82-foot ceiling. And then the Basilica itself tells Neubauer about the material from which she is made: granite sourced from Vermont, marble, copper, stainless steel and so on.
The Basilica shares a memory of one interfaith service, too.
“I was invited to join people of all faiths at a Thanksgiving service,” the Basilica says. “Along with Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith leaders, we sought not to convert each other, but to understand each other. We discovered that we have many shared values, and we ended up learning about our own faith in that dialogue.”
This narration flows in and out of the projected imagery and music from a combination of the Luminiscence Orchestra and the Minneapolis Choir, conducted by the Basilica director of music Patrick Schneider and joined by the Basilica organist Samuel Holmberg.
The musical team covers everything from Claude Debussy’s “The Sunken Cathedral” to Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”
Griffith says celebration of the arts is central to the mission of the Basilica, as is welcoming all audiences.
“The Basilica just doesn't belong to our parishioners. It's really an architectural landmark,” Griffith says. “It belongs to everybody in the community.”
He adds, “We are in need in the Twin Cities. It’s been a challenging time in the last number of months, in the last number of years, for beauty. I think beauty is something that lifts people's spirits. It’s something we can experience together [as] part of our common humanity.”
English (US) ·