the world of stonEhenge

British Museum

★★★★★ ‘a knockout epic’ The Guardian

★★★★★ ‘astonishing’ The Times

★★★★★ ‘a landmark exhibition’ Time Out

The World of Stonehenge at the British Museum offers new and compelling insight into one of the world’s most famous wonders. 

Featuring 430 fascinating objects, the exhibition explores the ways in which the ancient people of Europe understood the world and how their beliefs and rituals might unravel the secrets of Stonehenge.

The brief was for the lighting to create a subliminal sense of environment and to help tell the story of the objects. We also wanted to transport the visitor away from the classic gallery and quite literally into the World of Stonehenge and its powerful and mysterious settings.

Lighting such a wide variety of ancient and precious objects as well as using light to create a dramatic atmosphere required several different design approaches.  Each section of the show called for a bespoke lighting effect and each object was given a detailed treatment to ensure the singularity of the artefacts were enhanced against the overall concept and scheme of the space.

Given the pivotal importance of the sun in Neolithic cultures, Beam designed a massive 72m2 skyscape backdrop with meticulously programmed light components creating the appearance of a sun-like orb slowly setting over a series of dramatic sunset colour schemes.  

Together with the 3D designers, RAA, Beam worked to ensure that at every moment within the visitor journey the sun can be viewed in some form, in relation to the objects.

Beam designers continued the use of theatrical lighting techniques in other sections to suggest environments such as the dappled movement of the sunlight through thick forest and the cool ripples of light across water. In some areas the lighting was scaled right back, capturing only the objects themselves illuminated against a dark night sky.

Beam worked closely with RAA and British Museum curators on the project, realising their vision from the concept centred around the sun and its light. While we were not able to showcase Stone Henge in person, we had to work hard as a team to illustrate the narrative around its creation and development in an equally engaging way.