Opening Ceremony For Gotthard Base Tunnel In Switzerland
Aug 16, 2016 8:27:35 GMT 10
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Post by theshee on Aug 16, 2016 8:27:35 GMT 10
Don't know how I missed this (begining of June 2016). It has to be the weirdest opening ceremonies I've ever seen. Anyway, here goes.... The Swiss have put on one of the most bizarre opening ceremonies in history to mark the completion of the world's longest tunnel.
Famed for their trains, organisers roped in more than 600 dancers, acrobats and dramatic actors and even composed the new route's very own theme tune as they pulled out all the stops for Wednesday's inauguration at the tunnel's northern portal in Erstfeld.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Francois Hollande of France and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi all came to southern Switzerland for an upbeat, glitzy celebration featuring musical bands and dancers.
Under purple neon lights, performers dressed in orange miners' suits and protective helmets danced atop a moving rail car to the rhythm of pick-axes and construction machinery.
Trapeze artists hung from chains or ropes, a band blared out a thumping military march and helicopters buzzed overhead as the celebration strived to both thrill and offer a show of European solidarity.
It also featured a baby with feathered white wings and oversized head and a man dancing with a bird's nest on his head. Music was provided by Alpine horn players, an army band and live choirs
A dance troupe also performed in just their underwear before fireworks were sent blasting into the sky outside the venue.
The out-there event was in honour of the world's longest rail tunnel, running for 35 miles under the Swiss Alps, and was put together by German director Volker Hesse.
According to commentators, the performance explored the myths of the massif, the modernity of the book and the North-South reconciliation were its central themes.
The tunnel has come in under its £8.5billion and its creation will mean a million fewer trucks on the roads.
High-speed trains will whisk passengers and cargo in 17 minutes through a mountain range that divides northern and southern Europe between Erstfeld in the Swiss canton of Uri, to Bodio in the Ticino canton.
As the first train used the tunnel today, experts described the completion of the 17-year construction project as a 'masterpiece of timing, cost and policy'. link
Famed for their trains, organisers roped in more than 600 dancers, acrobats and dramatic actors and even composed the new route's very own theme tune as they pulled out all the stops for Wednesday's inauguration at the tunnel's northern portal in Erstfeld.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Francois Hollande of France and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi all came to southern Switzerland for an upbeat, glitzy celebration featuring musical bands and dancers.
Under purple neon lights, performers dressed in orange miners' suits and protective helmets danced atop a moving rail car to the rhythm of pick-axes and construction machinery.
Trapeze artists hung from chains or ropes, a band blared out a thumping military march and helicopters buzzed overhead as the celebration strived to both thrill and offer a show of European solidarity.
It also featured a baby with feathered white wings and oversized head and a man dancing with a bird's nest on his head. Music was provided by Alpine horn players, an army band and live choirs
A dance troupe also performed in just their underwear before fireworks were sent blasting into the sky outside the venue.
The out-there event was in honour of the world's longest rail tunnel, running for 35 miles under the Swiss Alps, and was put together by German director Volker Hesse.
According to commentators, the performance explored the myths of the massif, the modernity of the book and the North-South reconciliation were its central themes.
The tunnel has come in under its £8.5billion and its creation will mean a million fewer trucks on the roads.
High-speed trains will whisk passengers and cargo in 17 minutes through a mountain range that divides northern and southern Europe between Erstfeld in the Swiss canton of Uri, to Bodio in the Ticino canton.
As the first train used the tunnel today, experts described the completion of the 17-year construction project as a 'masterpiece of timing, cost and policy'. link