The lights on the Metro Bridge spanning the River Tyne were turned off for an hour from 10pm on Monday 4 August to mark a hundred years since the outbreak of World War One.
The Nocturne project, which illuminates the QEII Metro bridge, was switched off as part of a nationwide programme of events to commemorate the beginning of the Great War.
Nexus, which owns and manages the Metro system, was joined by a host of other landmarks that dimmed their lights for an hour, including the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, The Houses of Parliament, Blackpool Tower and the Imperial War Museum.
The Lights Out campaign was inspired by foreign secretary Sir Edward Grey, who famously declared on the eve of the declaration of war in 1914: “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”
Director General of Nexus, Bernard Garner, said: “Landmarks across our region and right across Britain turned off their lights to mark the beginning of World War One, and to remember all those who gave their lives in that terrible conflict.
“I’m honoured that Nexus was to play its part in these poignant commemorations by turning off the Nocturne lights on the QEII Metro Bridge over the Tyne.”
The Lights Out project was devised by 14-18 NOW, the official cultural programme for the First World War Centenary Commemorations.
Visible from many places in and around the Tyne gorge, the work has two elements. By day the two-tone colour pattern on the 360-metre bridge changes its aspect according to the angle from which it is viewed and the time of day. At night led light units create a subtle pattern of colours which changes with the rise and fall of the tides below.
The lights never repeat the same combination of colours twice as pre-programmed barcodes of colour ripple across the structure, rising and falling in brightness and intensity to match the ebb and flow of the tide.