Budapest, the vibrant and picturesque capital of Hungary, was transformed into a canvas filled with drama, colour, excitement and storytelling in one of Europe’s most impressive multimedia shows to celebrate the National Day on August 20th.
The 35-minute show, fully timecoded, featured monumental projection, lasers, lighting, drone displays and a massive fireworks show along a 5 km stretch of the Danube River.
Visual Europe Group (VEG) was the main technical supplier for the event, providing sound, lighting, lasers, videowalls, projection mapping and a large-scale drone show for this extensive city centre site, covering both sides of the river, Buda and Pest.
Robe’s moving lighting systems — iBOLTS, iFORTES and iFORTE LTX — once again played a key role in illuminating four major architectural landmarks: the 118-metre-wide Hungarian Parliament Building, the Hungarian National Gallery, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and the Elisabeth Bridge.
The project was managed by Visual Europe Group’s in-house team, with all key technical decisions taken internally. Close collaboration between all parties was coordinated by project lead Zoltán Ősz, who oversaw the production and execution from start to finish in alignment with the creative team at GYÁR Post Production Company, a sister company within the group.
Tibor Kalla was the lighting designer. It was his first time working in this role for the National Day, although he had previously been part of the team as a systems engineer and network installation specialist. He worked closely with VEG to determine the best equipment locations around the city to achieve the desired lighting aesthetic.
Eight iBOLTS were positioned on the two arches of the Chain Bridge, one of Budapest’s most iconic landmarks. The iBOLTS acted as powerful beacons of light to highlight the bridge as a central point of the show. During the timecoded performance, the arches were illuminated with projection, and the intense shafts of light from the iBOLT fixtures were synchronised with the music and projected images.
On the Parliament Building — on the Pest side of the river — 10 iFORTES were placed to illuminate the north side of the structure, complementing the impressive projections that covered its main façade.
The Hungarian National Gallery, located on the Buda bank and part of the Buda Castle complex, sits at one of the highest points of the city and is a visually prominent part of the show’s panorama. This year, its main façade and central dome were illuminated with 16 iFORTE LTX units in various colours and gobo textures, adding depth and presence. The iFORTE LTX fixtures were mounted on scaffolding towers along the Savoy Terrace in front of the National Gallery, and their enormous output was ideal for the task.
The main towers of the Elisabeth Bridge were lit with a total of 16 iFORTE LTX, while another 64 iFORTES projected beams of light from the sides of the bridge. With its 290-metre span built at the narrowest point of the Danube, this bridge — named after Elisabeth of Bavaria — marked the southern limit of the show, while Margaret Bridge marked the northern boundary. The fixtures were installed on staging platforms distributed along the pedestrian walkways.
Robe’s products were chosen for their IP rating and high brightness. Although the weather was excellent on this occasion, its increasing unpredictability makes the power, colour rendering, consistency and reliability of these fixtures ideal for highlighting the city’s architectural heritage with elegance and style.
The company’s systems formed part of the approximately 900 lighting fixtures deployed by VEG throughout the city centre for a show that attracted around 1.5 million visitors during a day of celebration that turned Budapest into a large carnival with a vibrant festive atmosphere.
One of the main challenges for VEG’s 250-person team was coordinating with all the other independent technical departments so that, upon arrival on site, both power and data infrastructure were already in place across this vast urban environment.
The videomapping was carried out using 67 Panasonic PT-RQ35K 35,000-lumen projectors and Disguise VX4 media servers, installed in containers in the main control area on the Buda side opposite the Parliament Building. The projectors were shooting approximately 400 metres across the river toward the façade of the 1902 neo-Gothic masterpiece. An extremely tight installation schedule added pressure to the production team. Lighting installation began on August 13th and continued until the evening of the 18th, with a single rehearsal on the 19th. Installation on the Elisabeth Bridge was left until last, as it was only accessible once traffic closures in the city centre — coordinated by the police — were in place, adding further logistical complexity for the lighting crew.
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The fireworks were designed and executed independently by Budapest-based pyrotechnics specialists NUVU and were launched from multiple locations, including several barges anchored along the river.
Taking part in Hungary’s National Day is both an honour and a great responsibility. It is an opportunity to demonstrate our technical expertise while contributing to a historic and symbolic event that brings the entire country together, said Szabolcs Botond, CEO of VEG.
The overall event organisation was managed by Lounge Event, an experienced event agency under shared ownership with Visual Europe Group.
