Opening Rügen-Stralsund bridge

330,000 people celebrated the opening of the new Rügen bridge with a roaring folk festival from 19 to 21 October 2007. It took a good three years to build the new Strelasund crossing, which Chancellor Angela Merkel officially approved on 20 October. As an “architectural masterpiece”, the politician praised the more than four kilometres long connection between Stralsund and Rügen.

On behalf of HELICON-MEDIA, A&O Technology provided the new Stralsund landmark with festive splendour, know-how and equipment at the inauguration ceremony. The A&O team supported a staging by lighting designer Gerd Helinski on the imposing building. Jens Probst, operator of A&O Creative, was responsible for programming the 16-minute timecode show. The lighting specialists used 20 FALCON BEAM 3 kW and 12 FALCON BEAM 7 kW for the show on the bridge over the “Strelasund”. All lighting systems were positioned at a distance of approx. 45 metres on 2m high platforms along the carriageway of the new bridge. For signal transmission, which took place over a distance of 1.5 km, HELICON-MEDIA used the new W-DMX-PRO, which recently became part of the media service provider’s portfolio. The pylon, which with a total height of 128m now characterises the landscape, proved to be an ideal large-scale architectural construction in which the FALCON xenon searchlights were able to shine with their wide-ranging lighting effect.

The impressive light installation, accompanied by pre-produced music by various performers, implemented the themes “Sea, Rügen and Stralsund” as well as the idea and realisation of the bridge construction in both technical and musical terms. The result was a multimedia show that effectively staged Germany’s largest bridge structure and lived up to its nickname “Strelagate”.