Illumination of Swiss Alps Marks Centenary Year of Mountain Railway

Light artist Gerry Hofstetter projected the Swiss cross, along with other images, on to the north face of the Jungfrau (a mountain in the Bernese Alps) on Jan. 1, launching the start of the celebrations of Jungfrau Railways' centenary year.

Jungfrau Railways is Switzerland's leading mountain railway, carrying 700,000 passengers every year, from Kleine Scheidegg to the Jungfraujoch peak, according to a statement released by the railways authority on Monday.

On February 21, 1912, Italian miners used a massive charge of dynamite to make the breakthrough to daylight on the Jungfraujoch. They completed the construction of the railway tunnel through the rock of the Eiger and Monch mountains to the highest-altitude railway station in Europe. This incredible pioneering masterpiece has become Switzerland's leading mountain railway, the statement read.

Hofstetter, who has set up camp beneath the Jungfrau summit at 3,380 meters above sea level and will stay on the glacier in the heart of the Swiss Alps for nine days, is set to illuminate the Jungfrau for eight consecutive evenings, until Jan. 8.

Some of the images projected will include the Swiss cross (pictured above), a Jungfrau Railways' train and a portrait of Adolf Guyer-Zeller, the founder of the Jungfrau Railways.