Koblenz 2000

Deutsches Eck, Koblenz.

Since dusk, a gigantic bundle of beams has hovered over the event location, connecting the city’s most famous landmarks. Shortly before midnight, the masses gathered on the banks of the river Rhine look spellbound onto the rock below Ehrenbreitstein Castle on the other side of the river. The laser specialists from Aalen used this natural backdrop as a gigantic projection surface for the countdown to the year 2000.

The projection surface was far from ideal: A rock, 150 m wide and 75 m high, in a distance of about 500 meters, with its composition and vegetation making rather inconsistent reflection conditions probable. In order to make the gigantic projection onto about 10,000 m² possible in the first place, two latest-generation lasers (diode-pumped solid-state lasers with 10 Watts) were used.

In line with LOBO’s Laser Truck principle, the entire technology for the projection as well as a small control room were housed in a compact container at the “Deutsches Eck”. This proven concept, which was also used for the millennium event in Trier, guarantees short assembly and disassembly times as well as a maximum of operational safety thanks to the technology encapsulated in the container and redundantly working components.

With the onset of dusk, laser beams between Castle Franz, Ehrenbreitstein Castle, Fort Asterstein and Castle Konstantin were to announce the millennium spectacle. In order to realize the laser bundle hovering above the city, four high-performance argon lasers with special optics were installed in Ehrenbreitstein Castle. Thanks to the special beam characteristics of this laser type, the beams were visible from almost anywhere in the city and surrounding areas.