Jerusalem’s iconic Tower of David is located in the magnificently restored Citadel in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem. Within the Citadel’s walls, the Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem in Israel initiates and undertakes projects that add new dimensions to the usual museum experience. A spectacular night show now joins a long tradition of exhibits and projects that juxtapose the ancient and modern.
The night show, created by Skertzo, envelopes the spectator in a powerful multi-sensory experience. Its dynamic collage changes the visitor’s perceptions of time and place using motifs connected to the history of the city projected on the very walls, archeological ruins, bridges, and hidden pathways where the history unfolded. The show, which draws many thousands of visitors to the museum each year, runs at least four times a week under almost any weather conditions.
The installation was extremely demanding. Sensitive electronic equipment and a high-resolution DVI signal distribution system needed to be installed over distance in an outdoor venue that withstands severe climate changes throughout the entire year. More challenging was to install the system in an archeological site that dictated complex physical conditions, strict aesthetic demands, and extremely difficult cable routing.
As soon as the project was confirmed, Protech Integration had less than three months to decide on equipment, install infrastructure, design and assemble weather-proof projection rooms, lay fiber optic cables for video and control, and design command rooms. Projectors were placed in several locations, at various distances from the digital sources.
Protech Integration, a leading company of digital display and video in Israel, selected Kramer’s solution to distribute DVI signals and to deliver these signals over fiber optic cables for high quality transmission regardless of distance or climate conditions.
Medialon Manager controls all AV equipment used in the show, including twenty projectors driven by ten Onlyview servers and ten Adtec high definition players. An Alesis hard disk audio player is used for the multichannel soundtrack and the sound system is produced by NEXO.
Every projector in the setup receives its signals using Kramer 621T and 621R DVI over fiber optic cable transmitter/receiver pairs and Kramer LC-4 optical cables to ensure the highest-quality DVI transmission. 20 VM-2HDCP 1:2 DVI distribution amplifiers provide continuous monitoring of the show over local monitors.
“Because of the impossible time schedule, we had to install equipment and design the system at the same time, the only way to succeed was to work using a very precise time table” said Asi Goren from Protech Integration. “We tested several solutions for delivering the signals to the projectors and Kramer’s was the best. In our long experience with Kramer’s products, they are very reliable, and that was a very important factor”.