St.Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City is now shines in LED lighting as Osram completed its digital lighting project of the World Heritage after 18 month of planning and the installation of a new LED lighting system.

Osram said that the entire lighting concept for the project was tailor-made to highlight all the treasures of the world's most important and historic basilica. More than 780 special luminaires equipped with approximately 100,000 LEDs were used in this project. Thanks to intelligent lighting control, the lighting of the church, which covers an area of around 22,000 square meters, can be quickly and easily adapted to predefined lighting scenarios. With the new LED light, for example, the mosaics in the domes of the side aisles now can be seen down to the smallest detail. Numerous works of art that previously disappeared in semi-darkness now shine in all their glory.

(Image: Osram)

“We are very proud of this lighting masterpiece in St. Peter’s Basilica,” said Olaf Berlien, CEO of OSRAM Licht AG. “The project demonstrates just how history and high tech can be combined in the best possible way by using the right expertise. More than 500 years of history are now being bathed in digitally controlled LED light.”

“This project provides a significant service, both to art lovers and to those who come on pilgrimage to this symbol of Catholicism. We are pleased that a special light has been cast on this important location – thanks to the new illumination,” says S.E. Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, President of the Governorate of the Vatican City State.

The new LED lighting emphasizes the masterpieces inside the sacred building, such as the mosaics covering more than 10,000 square meters, and also enables visitors to read without straining their eyes. Previously, the domes in the small side aisles, among other things, were almost unlit; now the new lighting concept will set the stage for them in the best possible way. Details that have never been visible before in the 500-year history of St. Peter's Basilica, details that even art experts were unaware of, now can be seen without disturbing reflections.