The Central State Museum is one of the largest museums in Central Asia with Almaty being the largest city in Kazakhstan and the most ethically and culturally diverse.

The museum consists of more than 300,000 artefacts of worldly and religious heritage. Nearly 90 years after first opening its doors, the museum wanted to attract a worldwide audience to share in its rich and diverse collections.

STEPLine were commissioned to showcase some of the most important historical artefacts and relics of Central Asia dating back as far as 2-1^st century BC.

Audio visual technologies would need to be able to pull out all the stops to bring the collections to life and enrich the visitors' experience.  Reliable and flexible projection technology was essential along with rich immersive audio.

The museum was to open its doors on the city’s 1000 year anniversary in December 2016 attracting a new generation of visitors from around the world.

STEPLine chose Optoma DLP™ projectors for the obvious benefits:  Dust resistant optical design, no filters to clean and the ability to render vivid realistic colours.  In addition, they offered installation flexibility and features such as geometric image correction - ideal for installations required in certain tricky locations. 

The short throws enabled visitors to walk through the space without obscuring the projections and the long operation functionality offered ultimate peace of mind.

To complement the exhibits in the ‘Passage of the Museum’ (a passage spanning 1000 years of rich history within Almaty City), Optoma ProScene W515 models provided the perfect solution in a space with limited access for maintenance.  The short throw lenses installed in portrait mode resulted in projecting picture-perfect video content on the ancient history of the city.

In one of the halls, spectacular razor-sharp blended images of a caravan of white camels passing the landscape appear and disappear, as if by magic.  This was achieved blending two Optoma ProScene W505 projectors with a GB-200 blending processor and ultra-short throw lenses, drawing the attention of the visitors.

The Optoma laser ZH300UW boasts a non-widescreen resolution (1920 x 720) and an aspect ratio of 16:6, which enabled panoramic rear projection just 30cm from the wall, throwing an image more than a metre wide, This proved beneficial for this project where the need for beautiful, dramatic visuals in an enclosed space were fundamental.

Since each room represented a distinct historical period, it was necessary to balance the stunning visual displays with high quality acoustics.  STEPLine divided the museum into 12 zones of sound seamlessly with AUDAC, showcasing all of the different eras and enhancing the visitors’ experience.

Optoma ProScene projectors breathed life into rare historical exhibits and archaeological finds through projecting a series of documentaries, transporting the visitors on a journey, connecting with their emotions through vivid lifelike imagery and powerful storytelling.

STEPLine streamlined the installation and formed an immersive audio visual solution using Optoma DLP™ projection technologies and acoustic brand AUDAC.