Streetlights illuminate more than the path—tell city stories, reveal architectural styles, and often become beloved symbols of the cities they light. From elegant Victorian forms to super-contemporary fixtures, these practical works of art define the personality of streets and piazzas all over the world.
Here are 20 places where you can find some of the most peculiar and beautiful street lamps that are themselves tourist attractions.
Paris, France
The ornate five-globe lamps lining the Pont Alexandre III make this bridge one of the most photographed spots in Paris. These Art Nouveau masterpieces, installed in 1900, feature golden embellishments and intricate carvings that sparkle against the Seine River at night.
Paris earned its ‘City of Light’ nickname partly thanks to its early adoption of street lighting, with over 20,000 gas lamps illuminating the city by the mid-19th century.
Barcelona, Spain
Antoni Gaudí’s contribution to Barcelona extends beyond his famous buildings to the street lamps in Plaza Real. These six-armed lampposts crowned with winged helmets were among Gaudí’s first public works, commissioned when he was just 26 years old.
The lamps combine practicality with mythology, featuring Mercury’s staff intertwined with serpents and topped with wings representing commerce and wisdom.
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Lisbon, Portugal
The Bairro Alto district shines under the glow of traditional Portuguese street lamps known as ‘candeeiros.’ These cast-iron beauties feature delicate filigree work and glass panels with distinctive star patterns that cast enchanting shadows on the cobblestone streets.
Local artisans still maintain these lamps using techniques passed down through generations since their installation in the late 1800s.
London, England
The iconic black cast-iron lamps with their distinctive Westminster design have become as synonymous with London as red telephone booths. These elegant Victorian-era lamps found throughout royal parks and around Buckingham Palace feature crowns atop their posts, symbolizing the monarchy. Many original gas lamps in central London still operate today, maintained by a dedicated team of five lamplighters who service them by hand.
New Orleans, USA
The French Quarter’s distinctive wrought-iron gas lamps with their gently flickering flames create the neighborhood’s romantic atmosphere. These copper fixtures, many dating to the early 19th century, survived Hurricane Katrina and continue to cast their warm glow over brick buildings and hidden courtyards.
Their handcrafted scrollwork designs reflect the city’s French and Spanish colonial heritage.
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Venice, Italy
Venice’s unique glass street lamps blend Byzantine and Gothic influences, with many designed by renowned Murano glass artists. These delicate creations feature multicolored glass elements that refract light across the canals, enhancing the city’s dreamlike quality after sunset.
Some of the most elaborate examples illuminate St. Mark’s Square, where their reflections dance on the water during the city’s frequent acqua alta flooding events.
St. Petersburg, Russia
The bronze street lamps along Nevsky Prospect showcase imperial Russian craftsmanship with their double-headed eagle motifs and intricate relief work. These massive fixtures stand nearly 20 feet tall and were originally designed to burn whale oil before being converted to electricity in 1883.
During the 900-day siege of Leningrad in World War II, most lamps were dismantled and hidden to prevent damage, then meticulously restored afterward.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Amsterdam’s canal-side street lamps feature a simple yet elegant design dating back to the Dutch Golden Age, with curved arms extending over the water. These lamps were strategically placed to help prevent accidents along the canals, and many contain hidden symbols representing the city’s merchant history.
Modern replicas now house energy-efficient LED lights while maintaining their historical appearance.
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Victoria, Canada
The cluster lights of Victoria’s Inner Harbor, known as ‘The Lights of Parliament,’ consist of five globe fixtures mounted on fluted columns painted British racing green. Installed in 1909, these lamps have become a symbol of the city and appear on countless postcards and souvenirs.
The original glass globes were hand-blown by craftsmen who created unique variations in each lamp.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Recoleta neighborhood features French-inspired Belle Époque street lamps that reflect the city’s European aspirations in the early 20th century. These ornate fixtures with their distinctive green patina match the district’s elegant architecture and were imported directly from French foundries.
The lamps in Plaza Francia display elaborate bas-relief scenes depicting Argentine history and rural life.
Tokyo, Japan
The Ginza district’s ultra-modern street lamps combine LED technology with traditional Japanese aesthetics. These slender steel posts with internally illuminated paper-like panels change colors throughout the night and respond to pedestrian movement.
Designers incorporated elements from traditional lanterns while adding computerized systems that reduce energy consumption by 80% compared to conventional lamps.
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San Francisco, USA
The Path of Gold Light Standards along Market Street feature bronze lamps atop fluted poles, each crowned with a golden goddess figure. Installed after the 1906 earthquake, these 23-foot-tall fixtures were part of the city’s rebuilding effort and remain the largest collection of historic street lamps in America.
Their ornate bases depict transportation themes, including ships, trains, and early automobiles.
Berlin, Germany
The gas lamps of Berlin form the world’s largest remaining network of gas street lighting, with over 30,000 historical fixtures still in operation. These distinctive lamps with their hexagonal glass enclosures have remained largely unchanged since the 19th century, particularly in neighborhoods like Charlottenburg and Tiergarten.
A small museum dedicated entirely to street lamp history, the Gaslaternen-Freilichtmuseum, displays 90 different historical models.
Vienna, Austria
The imperial lamps surrounding Schönbrunn Palace feature gilt decorations and crystal elements that reflect the Habsburg monarchy’s opulence. These lamps burn brighter than others throughout the city, a tradition dating back to when they indicated the emperor’s presence in the palace.
Due to their elaborate construction, each lamp takes a skilled craftsman three days to clean and maintain.
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Boston, USA
Beacon Hill’s characteristic copper lamps with their hand-blown glass were originally fueled by whale oil harvested from the city’s once-thriving whaling industry. These fixtures, dating to the 1830s, are maintained in their original condition and cast a distinctive amber glow over the neighborhood’s brick sidewalks.
A local tradition holds that newly engaged couples take photos beside lamp number 55 on Acorn Street for good luck.
Prague, Czech Republic
The Gothic-inspired cast-iron lamps of Charles Bridge feature spired tops reminiscent of church architecture and cast mysterious shadows across the bridge’s famous statues. These lamps are still lit manually at dusk by a lamplighter in traditional costume, continuing a centuries-old tradition.
During the Christmas season, special colored glass inserts create a kaleidoscope effect on the snow-covered bridge.
Quebec City, Canada
The Lower Town district features distinctive blue-painted cast iron lamps with frosted glass panels inspired by 18th-century French designs. These fixtures were reconstructed based on archaeological findings and historical documents to represent the city’s colonial period accurately.
In winter, the lamps cast a blue-tinged glow that complements the snow-covered stone buildings of this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Edinburgh, Scotland
The Royal Mile’s historic ‘Edinburgh lanterns’ feature distinctive crown motifs and thistles, Scotland’s national emblem, incorporated into their ironwork. These lamps were designed to remain lit even in the city’s notoriously fierce winds and heavy rains, with special ventilation systems and reinforced glass.
Ghost tour guides often point out certain lamps that are said to be haunted by the spirits of executed prisoners from the nearby tollbooth.
Shanghai, China
The Bund waterfront promenade features lamps that blend Art Deco and traditional Chinese design elements, reflecting the area’s international history. These lamps, with their distinctive dragon motifs and jade-colored glass, were recently restored based on photographs from the 1920s.
The reconstruction project required craftsmen to rediscover nearly lost metalworking techniques to reproduce the original fixtures accurately.
Brussels, Belgium
The Grand Place features ornate baroque-style lamps that complement the guild houses surrounding the square. These gilded fixtures include unique sculptures representing different trades and crafts historically practiced in each building they illuminate.
During the biennial Flower Carpet event, the lamps are adorned with special prisms that scatter colored light across the floral display below.
Illuminating History
These street lamps are open-air industrial design and urban planning museums that make visible the manner in which cities have evolved over the course of centuries. Even though we take streetlights for granted, here they demonstrate how ordinary things can transcend being useful to become cultural icons.
Each lamp tells a tale of the space it illuminates—from innovation to art—illuminating not just streets, but the shared human experience of creating beautiful public spaces.
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