The Bronze Age Cinema was created in a specially blasted 1,000-cubic-meter cavern in the Rose Chamber of the experience. The eight-minute cinematic experience ends to reveal Europe's oldest wooden staircase, lovingly restored and documented over a 10-year period by Vienna's Natural History Museum. The Bronze Age Cinema seats up to 70 visitors for each performance and at the end of the presentation they can view prehistoric artefacts in custom made cases using LED lighting.
Inside the cavern and in front of the ancient staircase, the AV Stumpfl Magnum motorized projection screen measures 10m wide by 3m. This is used to show a five-minute film documenting the painstaking staircase restoration process and latest 3D scanning results.
"During installation, these were flown in by helicopter to the tunnel entrance and through narrow passageways with considerable skill," enthuses Tobias Stumpfl, CEO at AV Stumpfl.
AV Stumpfl FHD Players drive content to three Canon XEED WUX400ST short throw projectors that are edge blended. The projectors are installed at a distance of 2.5m in front of the Magnum motorized screen to eliminate projected light on to the visitors.
The motorised screen then reveals the staircase and a two-minute holographic projection show using a fourth projector onto the rock wall creating a three-dimensional effect. This tells the story of Uldo and Erie, Bronze Age children, showing how salt was mined and transported using the stairs. The natural surfaces of the mine add visual interest to the film.
The soft salt rock and surrounding limestone causes a shift of several centimeters each year. All projectors are installed on a truss traverse and changes are compensated using adjusting screws and screens re-stretched.
Ensuring preservation for future generations, the ancient staircase sits behind a large transparent screen. Due to the preservation, extremely tight space and climatic conditions that the salt mine presents, Scenomedia worked with the Fraunhofer Institute, Munich to specially develop the see-through transparent protective screen materials. These were also certified by the German Technical Inspection Association (TÜV SÜD).
Video content is managed using the powerful AV Stumpfl Wings Vioso toolkit with its simple to use timeline-based workflow.
All components of the control network are visually connected or 'wired' using the AV Stumpfl new Avio Manager 2D interface. AV Stumpfl IOBox media control modules store timeline and device control data on SD cards and operate independently. This removes theneed for any programming computers. "Our robust IOBox solid-state hardware is able to withstand extreme conditions such as high humidity, salt and temperatures that the mines present," adds Tobias Stumpfl.
"The Bronze Age Cinema showcases over 7,000 years of the historical site and welcomes over 420,000guests who visit the salt mines each year. For this project, we wanted to restore the 3,000 years-old Bronze Age stairs. We called upon Scenomedia to integrate them into a cinematic experience as part of the regular tour of the museum. Since opening in May 2015, it's been a tremendous success and the cinema is enjoyed by audiences of all ages," said Kurt Thomanek, general manager, Salinen Tourismus.
(Jim Evans)
