The première of the photo light show «Churchill's life and visit in Zurich» took place on Friday, 23 September 2016, at 20.15h in the presence of the interested public and invited guests from Switzerland and abroad. On the next day, Saturday, 24 September 2016, the show was being repeated.
There exist photographs and sound recordings but no film documentation of Winston Churchill’s speech «Let Europe Arise» at the Aula of the University of Zurich on 19 September 1946. Also, his triumphal procession through the city and his short speech at the «Münsterhof», where tens of thousands of people cheered him, were mainly captured photographically.
Gerry Hofstetter, the internationally renowned light artist from Zumikon, Zurich, has staged different light shows in the city of Zurich before. In memory of Churchill’s historic visit, Hofstetter created a photo light show based on the old photographic material of Churchill’s visit in Zurich and of other important stations of his life. The light show was being projected onto the wall of the building opposite the «Zunfthaus zur Waag» in the «Münsterhof».
