• http://www.lightsofliberty.org

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It’s the next best thing to time travel. Using 21st century technology, Lights of Liberty peels away modern life and drops you smack in the middle of America’s struggle for independence.

At dusk, you’ll don lightweight headsets and follow a costumed guide through cobblestoned streets where hand-painted images, some up to five stories high, are projected onto Independence Hall, Carpenter’s Hall and other historic buildings. With a soundtrack performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra swelling in the background, stories of America’s patriots are narrated by some of Hollywood’s “A” list stars – Claire Bloom, Walter Cronkite, Ossie Davis and Charleston Heston among others. The show is available in German, English, Spanish, Italian and Japanese.

The seeds of independence could have been planted only in Philadelphia. New England politicians, led by John and Samuel Adams, were too radical. The South was too rural. Philadelphia, the cultural center of the new world, not only had facilities where the colonies reps could meet, delegates could worship as they chose and the city’s politics were moderate.