A new chapter for an icon: Ingo Maurer's 5th Avenue Snowflake shines once again over Manhattan

For nearly two decades, the Fifth Avenue Snowflake has been one of the most distinctive light installations in Manhattan’s public realm. This season, the iconic project by Ingo Maurer returns with a renewed purpose. For the first time, the installation highlights the work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, one of the world’s leading institutions dedicated to the treatment and study of severe childhood diseases. The Snowflake brings the hospital’s mission into public view and forms part of a shared initiative that supports its work through targeted philanthropic efforts.

Since 2005, the Snowflake has marked the beginning of the holiday season at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. Measuring seven meters in diameter and weighing around 1,500 kilograms, it combines technical precision with an unexpectedly light, floating presence. Nearly 16,000 Baccarat crystal prisms refract the glow of more than 400 LEDs, giving the structure its characteristic shimmer above one of the city’s most vibrant thoroughfares.

The installation demonstrates how Ingo Maurer approaches light as a cultural medium, uniting poetic expression, experimentation and technical sophistication. The collaboration with St. Jude deepens this perspective by giving the Snowflake a socially grounded relevance that reflects shared civic values within the urban environment.

This year’s presentation is made possible through the support of the Fifth Avenue Snowflake Foundation for Humanity, the Fifth Avenue Association and the Stonbely Family Foundation, long-standing advocates for the preservation of this New York landmark.

Photos: Tadhg Gorman