WOW! The Hungarian flag was projected on Matterhorn, the most well-known peak of the Alps!

That is how Zermatt wanted to thank the work of the Hungarian doctors and nurses and encourage all Hungarians in their fight against the coronavirus epidemic.

Matterhorn is one of the most well-known peaks of the Alps with its 4,478 metres above sea level. On April 23rd, at 11 pm, the mountain was illuminated with the colours of the Hungarian national flag as a symbol of solidarity and encouragement. Interestingly, according to index.hu, Zermatt did so because of an email from a Hungarian tourist who asked them to include Hungary in their peak illumination program. He was successful and between the national flags of Austria and Poland

the commanding peak was red-white-green for 20 minutes.

According to zermatt.ch, they projected various images onto the Matterhorn in the evenings of the past five weeks, and their initiative was very successful worldwide. Zermatt did so because they believe that light is hope.

“The images projected on the iconic Swiss mountain were words such as ‘hope’, ‘solidarity’ and ‘thanks’, national flags and cantonal coats of arms, as well as symbols such as a heart, an earth globe or mountaineers reaching out their hands to one another. All in all, Zermatt projected over 80 images on its local mountain” – they said on their website about the project.

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They aimed to give people hope all around the world, fighting against the coronavirus epidemic. They wanted to show solidarity with the people and express gratitude to those helping to overcome the crisis. Each image was accompanied by a message explaining what a particular topic meant and why it was chosen.

For example, to the image of Hungary, they wrote that “like Switzerland, Hungary is a landlocked country. Many Hungarians work in Switzerland, also in Zermatt. The Matterhorn illumination is

supposed to be a symbol providing hope and perseverance.”

Zermatt won Gerry Hofstetter, a light artist, to implement the fabulous lightings.

According to them, the initiative was very successful worldwide, and there were only a few critical voices exclusively from Switzerland. Media reports achieved an international reach of over 700 million. Individual contributions to social media received up to 1.7 million likes.

Opinion leaders around the globe shared the images of the illuminated Matterhorn in their social media channels –

including Narendra Modi (Prime Minister of India), Sebastian Kurz (Austrian Chancellor),

Alain Berset (Swiss Federal Councillor), Lee Hsien Loong (Prime Minister of Singapore), Stephen Tyrone Colbert (US satirist) or the Indian actors Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif and Anushaka Sharma. In response to the projection of the flag of the United Arab Emirates, the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, was illuminated with the Swiss cross – they say.

Source: zermatt.ch, index.hu