A new mural for the Globe

A 53 metre long and 6 metre high mural has graced the ramp of the Globe since 21 June. Containing life-size photos of the CMS experiment and an event in the ATLAS detector, its visual impact cannot fail to rouse visitors' curiosity.

 

Visitors ascending from the ground-floor to the first floor of the Globe are now greeted by a huge visual record of what's going on below ground at CERN and is no longer accessible on guided tours of the Laboratory. "The mural contains full-scale photos that give you a real feel of how the CMS detector is constructed and of the degree of precision of the particle tracks in the ATLAS event", explains Rolf Landua, Head of the Education Group, who came up with the project in conjunction with Bernard Pellequer.

Several people were instrumental in bringing the project to life. The collage of 250 photographs of the CMS detector was retouched and assembled by Maximilien Brice, CERN's photographer, with the assistance of M. Hoch and M. Alidra from the CMS experiment for the selection of the shots. "Given the complexity of the detector, it was a real challenge to correct the optical distortions for each of the photos and put them together in a perfectly geometrical sequence", explains Maximilien. The ATLAS event images were prepared by Joao Pequenao, a physicist working with the experiment. Graphic designer Fabienne Marcastel put the two components together and reworked them to build up a coherent whole. "I used a 3D photograph to achieve this result", explains Joao. "We had to make lots of different changes using Photoshop. The mural is an excellent means of reaching out to the public. It's an attractive, accurate and simple way of conveying information."

The next step was to find a company able to print such a large-scale mural. "The team from Rutschi Genève SA took up the challenge with great enthusiasm!", says Fabienne. "One of the things that set us apart is our willingness to study our customers' individual requirements in depth in order to find the optimum solution", says Marie-France Bras, head of the company. "This project offers just the kind of challenge we enjoy".


For visitors to the Globe, the mural is a very fitting addition to the new permanent exhibition and the activities taking place on the first floor.

The Globe will be open to everyone at CERN on 29 and 30 June. Don't miss the opportunity to go and admire its spectacular new mural.

by Laëtitia Pedroso