Via Dolorosa
Atmospheric music, narration, light, and animated projections across a custom topographic city model reveal how Jerusalem has been destroyed, rebuilt, and reimagined across the centuries.
The experience turns a monastery room at the second station of the Cross into a spatial prologue for one of the world’s most important pilgrimage routes.
Stone, Model, Light
The concept treats the monastery space itself as a narrative frame.
In the first part, selected archaeological fragments are staged with moving light, music, and narration, highlighting their significance for the story of Jerusalem’s destruction and rebuilding.
In the second part, a delicate topographical city model becomes the main projection surface. Historical documents and contemporary animation are woven into an audio-visual composition in ten languages, contrasting the lightness of the model with the weight of the surrounding stone architecture.
Before the Way of the Cross
Visitors enter a darkened room and are drawn into a staged sequence where sound and light gradually reveal the city’s past.
The topographic model lights up and transforms as projections trace the development of Jerusalem across epochs and regimes, making geopolitical and religious shifts intuitively graspable.
The experience concludes with life-size projected silhouettes of pilgrims and ambient whispers on the old monastery walls, gently guiding visitors toward the next stage of their visit.
Opening Jerusalem’s Layers
The project’s challenge was to create a compelling multimedia installation that contextualizes Jerusalem’s complex 3,000-year history at a single point of entry, both for pilgrims and secular visitors.
The idea had to resonate with diverse global visitors while respecting the sacred traditions and historical layers of the site.
The installation gives thousands of pilgrims each year a concise, emotionally resonant introduction to Jerusalem’s history at the exact point where many begin the Way of the Cross.
It strengthens the Terra Sancta Museum’s role as both a spiritual and educational gateway, linking archaeological evidence, narrative media, and lived ritual in a single, memorable prelude.
Project Highlights
- 15-minute immersive prelude to the Via Dolorosa in the Monastery of the Flagellation
- Topographic city model as central projection surface for animated history
- Integrated staging of archaeological fragments with light, sound, and narration
- Content available in ten languages for a global pilgrim and visitor audience
Facts & Figures
Hardware planning and technical implementation: AV MAGIC
Lighting and media control: DANOR Theatre and Studio Systems
in support of the Holy Places and the Christian communities of the Holy Land.
Links
