SIEMENS

At night, with its arms outstretched, it seems to float high above Rio de Janeiro. And recently the glow it casts over the city has been even brighter and more colorful. The city’s 30-meter-high statue of “Cristo Redentor” has been illuminated with LED projectors from Osram since March 2011.

The monumental statue was erected 80 years ago at a height of 710 meters, on Mount Corcovado, which, along with the Sugarloaf, is one of the most impressive peaks in the city. In the past, the statue was illuminated in a wasteful way. The lights that were placed around it in the surrounding jungle consumed 74 kilowatts (kW). The 300 new projectors that Osram installed together with its subsidiary Traxon — at no cost to the city — now consume a maximum of 17.2 kW. Each of them combines the light of 27 or 36 LEDs. This technology not only saves energy but also generates less heat than conventional light bulbs — a feature that benefits plants and animals.

A further advantage is the fact that the projectors focus their light even more precisely, with the help of special lenses. This makes it possible to illuminate individual parts of the statue, such as the left or right hands, the heart or the head. Thanks to the use of different colored LEDs, it is now also possible to change colors faster to create different moods; this was previously done by placing different colored foils in front of the lights by hand. This opens up new possibilities for light shows, according to light designer Peter Gasper, who is the artistic director of the new system. “It used to be a laborious task, and sometimes entirely impossible, to change the mood lighting of the monument,” he says. “But with the new projectors we can adjust the lighting quickly and easily.”