TECCO transforms the San Juan de la Peña experience with an immersive videomapping

The Monumental Site of San Juan de la Peña reopens its doors to the public with a top-tier cultural experience that places this gem of Aragonese heritage at the forefront of historical and museographic storytelling. TECCO was the company responsible for delivering this ambitious technological transformation in the church of the New Monastery, converting the 17th-century walls, arches, and cornices into a large-format digital canvas where the origins of the Kingdom of Aragon come to life.

The launch of this immersive experience arrives at a moment of profound symbolic importance for the region. Following months of intensive recovery work after the Las Peñas de Riglos forest fire—which this past summer came within fifty meters of the Old Monastery and required the royal remains of the Royal Pantheon to be temporarily sheltered in Huesca—the Government of Aragon has resumed tourism and cultural activities at the site, celebrating its official reopening with this major technological initiative.

An immersive journey to the birth of a kingdom

Located inside the church of the New Monastery, the installation transports visitors through the key episodes that forged the Aragonese identity: medieval resistance sheltered beneath the rock, foundational legends, the lineage of the early monarchs, and the historical expansion of the Crown of Aragon.

The staging turns a traditional visit into a dynamic sensory event. Guided by an audiovisual narrative calibrated to the site's architecture and to custom-built projection canvases integrated into the chapels, the historical narrative flows across the space, synchronized with an immersive soundscape and lighting transitions that accentuate every dramatic turning point.

The technical challenge: Absolute heritage conservation and millimeter precision

Working inside a registered Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) required flawless engineering: maximum visual impact with an entirely integrated and reversible physical presence. TECCO's engineering team addressed the challenges inherent to baroque stone architecture: balancing direct projection on masonry and custom-built projection screens tailored for the side chapels, preserving protected original moldings without invasive anchoring, and managing demanding ecclesiastical acoustics.

To bring a project of this scale to life and ensure autonomous, reliable, and continuous daily operation aligned with visitor schedules, TECCO deployed a coordinated audiovisual architecture:

• Hybrid projection engineering on architectural surfaces and bespoke canvases: TECCO calculated and deployed optimal optical throws tailored to both the temple walls and the custom-manufactured projection screens fitted inside the chapels. Utilizing high-brightness laser projection systems from Optoma, the team achieved an evenly illuminated, crisp, color-accurate image across varying surfaces, ensuring low-maintenance continuous operation and instant startup.
• Media management and show control with Dataton WATCHOUT: Dataton WATCHOUT was selected as the media server platform for content playback and control. The system manages 3D volumetric mapping, multi-projector warping across canvases and walls, soft-edge blending, and frame-accurate synchronization across video, audio, and lighting control cues.
• Low-visual-impact electroacoustic design: To achieve speech intelligibility without exciting the natural reverberation of the nave, TECCO designed and installed a discrete sound reinforcement system utilizing ECLER audio technology. Speakers and amplification were concealed within the architecture, enveloping visitors in the narrative while keeping hardware visually unobtrusive.
• Scenic lighting control and system automation: TECCO synchronized the audiovisual show with the church’s architectural lighting using LightShark consoles running over DMX/Art-Net protocols. This integration enables automated scene changes, transitioning smoothly between the immersive darkness of the projection and the functional light levels required for guided tours.

A new benchmark for regional tourism revitalization

The official presentation—led by the Minister of Environment and Tourism of the Government of Aragon, Luis Biendicho, alongside cultural heritage authorities, regional tourism directors, and local mayors from the Jacetania area—marked the full resumption of visits to both the Old and New Monasteries, the Interpretation Center, and the onsite Hospedería services.

The addition of this permanent videomapping installation serves as an economic and cultural driver for surrounding towns such as Santa Cruz de la Serós, Botaya, Bailo, and Jaca, demonstrating how audiovisual technology and heritage preservation collaborate to boost regional development.

With this project, TECCO solidifies its expertise in delivering tailor-made immersive installations for museums, heritage monuments, and landmark spaces, harnessing advanced technology to tell meaningful stories with emotional resonance and technical rigor.