Located in the middle of the Mediterranean, between Europe and Africa, the walled
Cittadella on the Maltese Island of Gozo has been of strategic importance since the
Phoenicians first set out in boats to trade with their neighbours more than a
thousand years before the beginnings of the Roman Empire. Over the centuries the
fortifications were regularly extended and improved by whoever had taken
possession of the island at the time. Ironically 300 years without a siege meant that
it was allowed to lapse into serious decay.

The Maltese government has adventurous plans to restore the Cittadella as a World
Heritage site and museum to cater for the wave of tourists beginning to pour on to
Gozo for its natural beauty. Renowned museum and attraction design and AV
specialists Sarner International were engaged to design and implement an unusual
experimental visitors’ centre located in the Cittadella’s abandoned water storage
reservoirs.

There are no historical objects on display here; every aspect of the experience is
purely audiovisual, although many of the projection surfaces are the ornate
architectural elements of the building and require highly detailed image masking.
There are three main areas. The exhibition area is divided into seven zones. There
is a tunnel that links the exhibition area to the main show area. The main show
area can fit a maximum of 30 people for each show lasting just over 8-minutes.
Each multi-language zone has interactive display content, with a complete
walkthrough.

The final zone is a spectacular 360-degree wrap-around projection and sound show
using sixteen projectors to cover the interior of one of the domed water reservoirs.
This experience is driven by AV Stumpfl Wings Engine Stage with image blending
and warping manually implemented by Sarner’s technicians using Wings VIOSO.

The sides of the tunnel walls are each lined with 15 video panels, which are driven
by 30 of AV Stumpfl’s Wings FHD Players. A further five Wings FHD Players are
used to feed a series of stand-alone projections. The Wings VIOSO system was used
to set up and calibrate the intricate masking of the show area. All zones are
coordinated through a Wings Stage system, with video timelines handled by AV
Stumpfl’s SC Master.

Ross Magri, managing director of Sarner, sums it up: “We’re using technology to
visually tell the stories of the people of Cittadella, its land and items of cultural
significance. Our technicians have designed an incredible journey; all possible
thanks to the reliable, failsafe technology of AV Stumpfl Wings.’

The Cittadella visitors’ centre opened its doors to the public in July 2016 and had
already seen its first 100,000 visitors by October that year.