Project Type
Architainment/Immersive Experiences
A city-scale outdoor celebration combining architectural projection mapping, drone choreography, pyrotechnics, lighting, lasers and distributed audio.
Project Name
St. Stephen’s Day 2025.
The city-wide celebration was held in Budapest on 20 August 2025, the production marked Hungary’s national celebration of the foundation of the state.
Spanning approximately 5.3 kilometers along the Danube, the synchronized show transformed landmark architecture, bridges, the river and the night sky into a unified immersive performance environment.
Lounge Event/Lounge Group was responsible for event organization and production management and was Visual Europe Group’s direct client. Visual Europe Group delivered the technical design, audiovisual production and integration, and technical operation.
Design Criteria
St. Stephen’s Day is Hungary’s national celebration of the foundation of the state. For the 2025 edition, the production brief was to translate this historic occasion into a contemporary large-scale visual experience while preserving its cultural meaning.
The design approach treated Budapest itself as the performance environment. Instead of building a conventional stage-bound spectacle, the production extended across the Danube, landmark architecture, bridges and the night sky. Projection mapping, drone choreography, pyrotechnics, lighting and distributed audio were conceived as parts of one synchronized composition.
The visual narrative combined historical references with a contemporary design language. Architectural surfaces were not used as independent projection screens: the Hungarian Parliament, the Hungarian National Gallery and five bridges formed parts of a continuous visual system extending over several kilometres of the city. The objective was to create a coherent urban-scale experience in which Budapest’s existing architecture became an active part of the storytelling.
Project Description
The production extended for approximately 5.3 kilometers along the Danube, integrating architectural projection, lighting, drone choreography, pyrotechnics, video and distributed audio into a single timed show.
Projection mapping formed one of its principal layers. The Hungarian Parliament alone used a 50-projector system, while additional projection systems covered the Hungarian National Gallery and five bridges. Maintaining one continuous visual composition across surfaces of different dimensions, distances and architectural geometries required frame-accurate synchronization and a dedicated six-person team responsible for projector alignment, calibration and visual continuity.
Above the city, 1,300 Flyfire Kaiken drones extended the visual composition into the sky. The aerial choreography was integrated with a large-scale pyrotechnic sequence comprising approximately 45,000 effects, fired from nine barges and 65 land-based positions along roughly five kilometres of the river.
The audience experience was supported by distributed audio and video infrastructure on both banks of the Danube. Thirty-seven sound towers and 16 LED screens served the viewing areas, maintaining audio and visual coverage across a geographically dispersed audience.
The projection system used Panasonic PT-RQ35K projectors driven by Disguise VX4 media servers. Lighting was controlled from grandMA3 full-size and grandMA3 light consoles. Laser content was controlled through Pangolin BEYOND Ultimate. The audio system combined Adamson and JBL VTX systems, with DiGiCo SD10 control and an SD10 Redundant Engine. A redundant Riedel MediorNet optical network supported signal distribution across the production.
More than 2,000 lighting fixtures and approximately 37 kilometers of cabling supported the wider technical infrastructure. More than 700 professionals worked across the production.
All visual disciplines were developed to serve the same narrative rather than operate as individual show elements. Projection content, drone formations, lighting, pyrotechnics and sound were coordinated so that architecture, river and sky functioned together as one performance space.
Challenges and Solutions
The central technical challenge was scale. The production was not contained within a single venue: it occupied several kilometres of a functioning European capital, spanning both banks of the Danube and multiple architectural surfaces.
Preparation took approximately eight to nine months, including technical site surveys, creative development, system design, simulations and rehearsals. Installation was phased so that Budapest could remain operational while technical infrastructure was deployed across the city.
The projection system presented a specific alignment challenge. Multiple façades with different geometries had to read as one continuous visual environment, while projection systems located at significant distances from one another had to maintain frame-accurate timing and visual continuity.
A second challenge was the simultaneous coordination of fundamentally different live systems: projection, lighting, drones, pyrotechnics and distributed audio. Each discipline had its own operational and safety requirements, but the audience had to experience them as one precisely timed sequence.
A central timecode synchronized the complete show. Because pyrotechnics represented the highest-risk element, the pyrotechnics operator initiated the timecode. The signal was distributed redundantly to the individual show sections and control positions via the optical network and, in parallel, through a wireless path. This provided a common timing reference for projection, lighting, drones, pyrotechnics and audio across the distributed production area.
Public-space operation added another layer of complexity. Technical installation, rehearsals and dismantling had to coexist with transport, pedestrian movement, river traffic, public-safety requirements and airspace coordination. The production therefore relied on phased installation, detailed interdepartmental planning and real-time operational coordination.
Approximately 1.5 million people experienced the celebration on site, with additional audiences reached through television and online coverage.
The defining design decision was not to treat Budapest as a backdrop. Its architecture, river corridor and skyline formed the physical structure of the production. Projection transformed the façades, drones and pyrotechnics occupied the airspace above them, and the distributed audio system connected those visual layers at audience level. The result was a city-scale live production built directly into the existing urban environment.
Equipment
Projection / processing: Panasonic PT-RQ35K projectors; 50-projector Parliament system plus additional systems for the Hungarian National Gallery and five bridges; Disguise VX4 media servers
Drone system: 1,300 Flyfire Kaiken drones
Pyrotechnics: Approx. 45,000 effects fired from 9 river barges and 65 land-based positions
Lighting / control: grandMA3 full-size and grandMA3 light; GLP MAD MAXX; Robe iForte, iForte LTX and iBolt; Ayrton Cobra; CLF Poseidon Wash XL, Poseidon Beam Ultra, Nero and Sera; Elation Sixbar 1000 IP
Laser / control: RTI PIKO 120W, 100W, 70W and 35W RGB; RGB Laser System Pictor 40W RGB; Pangolin BEYOND Ultimate
Audio: Adamson E119, E15, E12, E219 and S10; JBL VTX V25II, S28, A8 and VT4889; DiGiCo SD10 with SD10 Redundant Engine
Video / audience relay: 16 LED screens
Show control / synchronization: Central timecode, redundantly distributed via optical network and parallel wireless path
Network / infrastructure: Riedel MediorNet redundant optical network; approx. 37 km technical cabling
Team
Visual Europe Group – Technical design, audiovisual production and integration, projection systems, lighting, audio infrastructure and technical operation.
Lounge Event / Lounge Group – Event organization and production management; Visual Europe Group’s direct client.
GYÁR Post Production – Creative content development for the drone sequence.
NUVU Kft. – Pyrotechnic production and execution.
Anikó Seres – Fireworks visual design.
Dedicated six-person projection team – Projector alignment, calibration and visual continuity across the architectural projection systems.
Wider production workforce – More than 700 professionals working across the production.