Jungfrau to be illuminated with the Swiss cross
Light artist Gerry Hofstetter plans to project the Swiss cross and other motifs on to the north face of the Jungfrau. The event on New Year’s Eve will launch the centenary of the Jungfrau Railway.
Gerry Hofstetter will set up a bivouac below the summit of the mountain and spend 9 days living in a snow hole at 3300 metres above sea level. Weather permitting, from here he will illuminate the Jungfrau in the evenings, from midnight on New Year’s Eve to 8 January 2012. The illuminations will feature the Swiss cross, a Jungfrau Railway train and a portrait of Adolf Guyer-Zeller, founder of the Jungfrau Railway. The temperature at this altitude can drop to minus 30 degrees. Gerry Hofstetter will take enough supplies for three weeks as no helicopter rescue mission can be attempted in bad weather.
The illumination of the Jungfrau will launch the celebrations for the centenary of the Jungfrau Railway. On 21 February 1912, Italian miners used a massive charge of dynamite to make the breakthrough to the Jungfraujoch. They completed the construction of the railway tunnel leading through the Eiger and Mönch mountains to the highest-altitude railway station in Europe. The Jungfrau Railway, a pioneering masterpiece, has become Switzerland’s leading mountain railway and now transports around 700,000 persons per year.
This project has been made possible thanks to teamwork between Gerry Hofstetter, the Jungfrau Railway and Bayer. As a cultural partner of the Jungfrau illuminations, Bayer wants to foster global awareness of the beauty and unique quality of the Swiss mountain world. Bayer has been active in Switzerland since 1956 and supports scientific projects in schools, the development of energy-saving technology and bold, visionary cultural initiatives. From 28 December 2011 to mid-February 2012, the company will set up an open-air art exhibition – the world premiere of Art Run – next to the ski pistes on Kleine Scheidegg. The central theme will be pioneering spirit, vision and research in Switzerland, with the focus on Gerry Hofstetter’s light art and the construction of the Jungfrau Railway.
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published 06.12.2011
Gerry Hofstetter