Libya has begun a week of lavish celebrations to mark 40 years since the coup that brought Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to power in the North African country.
The spectacle included 800 performers as well as Italian aerobatic jets, paragliders with fireworks, dancers and a tent which organisers claimed was the largest in the world.
After months of preparation, dancers from Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Ukraine lit up the stage.
African animal structures, military bands, flame ballet, and laser projections brought to life 12,000 years of Libya's history.
Security was tight in the Mediterranean port city and the public were kept well away from the action on stage.
The events in Tripoli marked the beginning of a week-long series of celebrations across the country.
The ceremony was presided over by Col Gaddafi who was 27 when he took power. Once regarded as a pariah by the West, Col Gaddafi began a return to the international arena after Libya took responsibility for the 1988 bombing of a plane over Lockerbie.
Horsemen filled the stage, including a performer intended to represent Col Gadaffi. Libya invited some Western heads of state but the leaders of France and Britain, whose governments have struck up warm ties with Libya since sanctions ended, stayed away.
Television footage of the arrival in Libya of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was shown at the celebrations. His release by the Scottish government has caused a furore in the UK and US.
For the finale, a fireworks display lit up the sky, launched from ships off the coast. Organisers said that the celebrations were designed to show the world that the long-isolated oil exporter is open again for business after years of sanctions.
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