Lighting any type of religious building for a special occasion means a close eye to detail is required; so when Cologne Cathedral called for special lighting, they really meant it. To create Lux Eucharistica, an amazing dynamic audio visual show gracing Cologne Cathedral’s recent Eucharistic Congress 2013, the management called on illumination art specialists Friedrich Förster und Sabine Weissinger of Casa Magica in Tuebingen, southern Germany. They, in turn, enlisted ETC Ion control desk expert Matthias Strobel to help program the spectacular projections and colourful light. “Controlling the Selador Classic Vivid-R fixtures and projection using Ion was the easy bit,” says Strobel. “The more challenging part was taking control of the cathedral’s very complex house light system with 1000+ channels via the Artnet protocol. The fact that we could organise it all using the new Magic Sheets function, which comes with the latest Eos family software update, made things really simple.” The event used the Selador LED fixtures along with large-scale scrolling projections from Pani projectors to artistically express the topic of the congress. Live music complemented the images and colours, dramatically highlighting the gothic architecture. The aim was to inspire and awe the 45,000 people attending the event, including 40 bishops. Organized by the German Bishops’ Conference and hosted by the Archdiocese of Cologne, the five-day event this June included worship services both inside and outside the churches in central Cologne, along with theological discussions and lectures, a youth festival, and charitable projects. Each evening concluded with a service and stunning Casa Magica light and sound shows in the Cathedral. The event is held every one to three years on both national and international levels.
Picture: Casa Magicawww.etcconnect.com
