Edfu Temple opts for Christie
Published: MEA
EGYPT: Egyptian technology company Horizon for Trading & Contracting has completed work on its sixth sound and light show at Edfu Temple. Alongside speakers from Meyer Sound, the company has selected projectors from Christie.
Horizon staged its first sound and light show for tourists visiting the Pyramids of Giza back in 2002. This was followed by five such spectaculars at key temples along the River Nile. Concentrating on the stretch between Luxor and Aswan, Horizon followed the Pyramids show with similar productions at the Philae Temple, Aswan, and then the Temple of Karnak at Luxor, and Abu Simbel.
For its latest show, staged three times per night at the Temple of Horus (Edfu), the spectacle will feature large scale projection from four Christie Roadster S+20K three-chip DLP devices. This will be the first time that large format projection has been used in any of these shows. Projecting a distance of 70m onto the main gate, this will mark the final destination in a three-stage visitor attraction.
Horizon won a competitive tender (involving companies from France and Spain), issued by Misr Company for Sound and Light, the Egyptian Government-owned company to get the deal. Having been awarded the contract, Horizon reviewed the companies that would be able to offer the kind of projection output needed. ‘We put out feelers to two companies and Christie made the most favourable response,’ said head of engineering Wael Gouda.
Phil Lord, Christie’s sales consultant, Africa, was soon on site, demonstrating the system to both Horizon, Misr Company for Sound and Light and also Casa Magica, the artistic directors of the show. The performance of the S+20K’s meant that Horizon was able to abandon its idea of running the more powerful 30,000 lumen projectors.
‘The artistic directors were satisfied that the features of Christie were suitable for this application — and in fact we are able to use just two 20K’s stacked, with the lamps run at 60 per cent of their power. This way we are not only energy efficient but we have full redundancy in the event of any faults.’ These are mounted on pylons 21m from the ground, and encased in two 2m x 2m temperature controlled cabinets to eliminate the hazards of dust, sand and heat.
‘With most of the structure IP65-rated it is fine for the conditions,’ explained Mr Gouda. ‘The cabinet, which is built in Egypt, is of good quality and we have tested the cooling and isolation to ensure it is suitable — including making sure that by day the storage temperature is ok.’
Alongside images, light, music and speech, the show collates high quality image sources and set up specific photo shoots in an overall experience lasting 37 minutes – the final 16 minutes of which is dedicated to the giant Christie projection onto the 13m x 13m temple fascia.
The footage is recorded on digital media, with speech and music updated regularly, and it is fed over fibre optic to the projectors from an AV Stumpfl media player running Wings Platinum 4 software. The show control also sends DMX signals to the lighting, which includes Martin Pro and Griven heads while the soundtrack is delivered through a Meyer sound system.