A lighting system contains at least one controllable first light (NL), which is connected to a first current supply (L, N), and at least one controllable emergency current light (SL), which is connected to a further emergency current supply (P, N), separate from the first current supply (L, N). All lights have respective control devices associated therewith, all control devices being connected to a common bus (D1, D2). A monitoring device (5) issues a monitoring signal corresponding to the condition of the first current supply (L, N) onto the bus (D1, D2), which monitoring signal is evaluated at least by the control device of the emergency current light (SL) for the recognition of a disruption and for activation of an emergency current operation.