One of Europe’s largest castle estates, the Grand Commandery Alden Biesen, is
located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Owned by the Flemish government, the
magnificent 16th-century heritage site today serves as a popular tourist attraction,
cultural centre and conference centre.

Each year Alden Biesen hosts a wide range of concerts, exhibitions and other events.
With thousands of visitors flocking to the site, this presents obvious challenges for the
castle’s owners. Safety of visitors and staff is a prime concern, including VIP
performers and guests who regularly attend events at the castle. Vandalism and
unauthorised intruders were other key areas of
concern, as well as the need to establish liability in the case of accidents.

Working with venue security specialists DS Consulting a Belgian Security Consultant
and a Bel-gian integrator SERIS-Technology, Alden Biesen has transformed video
security by installing 25 Sony video security cameras at critical points around the site.

The selection was made by organising a POC – Proof of Concept with several
competitors during daytime and night-time. During the POC, several situations on site
were evaluated, and finally, the Sony camera solution was selected as the best
solution for the given challenges.

Outside, E- and V-series bullets and ER-rapid dome models from Sony offer all-
weather surveil-lance of the castle grounds, car park and other public areas. The
cameras’ Exmor™ R CMOS Sensor technology delivers superb image quality in HD or
Full HD. Powerful processing ensures that car number plates and other objects can be
seen clearly, even against harsh backlighting or in conditions of near darkness.

Indoors, compact SNC-DH110T mini dome cameras from Sony keep a discreet eye
over the castle’s treasures with minimal visual disruption to the historic room
interiors.

“This historic site was in urgent need of modernising its video security arrangements –
and these high-performance cameras from Sony offered the perfect answer,’ says
Emiel de Smet from DS Consulting. “We are delighted that Alden Biesen has already
seen its investment rewarded with the successful resolution of vandalism and other
incidents.’