St. Stephen's cathedral Vienna

A&O TECHNOLOGY SUPPORTED SPECTACULAR STAGING OF THE „STEFFL“ 

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

The spire of St. Stephen’s Cathedral shone almost spookily into the Viennese night sky. The north tower of the imposing, Gothic building, which was actually only 68 metres long, towered over its 136-metre-long counterpart – the south tower – on the occasion of the Pope’s visit. The initiator of the three-day light production from 7 to 9 September 2007 was the ‘Jugendkirche Wien’. They wanted to set a symbol of its Christian commitment with this optical simulation.

One of the main sponsors, the Raiffeisenlandesbank NÖ-Wien, entrusted 4Solutions with the planning and technically complex implementation of the pyramid of light. The company relied on the know-how and equipment of A&O Lighting Technology GmbH from Oyten near Bremen. The internationally experienced lighting service provider used 20 FALCON BEAM 3,000 W Xenon Searchlights from alpha one to illuminate the unfinished north tower. With this equipment, a 99 percent illumination of the visualization developed by 4solutions was achieved.

Two days before the beginning of the nightly light show, an A&O employee arrived to support 4Solutions with the setup and installation as well as the illumination of the spotlights. About four tons of material were transported to the north tower of the Viennese landmark “Steffl” for the project. In order to get the FALCON lighting systems up the narrow spiral staircase, a piano forwarder was involved who was familiar with transporting heavy loads in narrow staircases. A&O Lighting Technology was responsible for cabling the xenon spotlights, which required 80 kilowatts of power. For this it was necessary to install a separate power connection directly at the Wienstrom transformer station. A 500-year-old spiral staircase, which was practically no longer in use and on which the five required cables, each around 100 metres long, were laid, was available as the supply route for the power supply.

From dusk until one o’clock in the morning, the light rays crossed exactly at the height of the South Tower peak (137m) and offered an impressive light installation that unfolded its luminosity especially in slightly hazy weather.