A cyclorama is a
panoramicimage on the inside of a
cylindrical platform, designed to give viewers standing in the middle of the cylinder a 360° view, and also a building designed to show a panoramic image. The intended effect is to make viewers, surrounded by the panoramic image, feel as if they were standing in the midst of the place depicted in the image.
Background
Panoramas were invented by
Irish painter
Robert Barker,[1] who wanted to find a way to capture the panoramic view from
Calton Hill in central
Edinburgh,
Scotland. He subsequently opened his first cyclorama building in Edinburgh in 1787.
Cycloramas were very popular in the late 19th century.[1] The most popular traveled from city to city[1] to provide local entertainment – much like a modern movie. As the viewers stood in the center of the painting, there would often be music and a narrator telling the story of the event depicted. Sometimes
dioramas were constructed in the foreground to provide additional realism to the cyclorama. Most major cities had one;[1] circular and hexagonal-shaped buildings were constructed in almost every major US and European city to provide a viewing space for the cycloramas. For example, a 360° depiction of the land and naval
battles of Vicksburg was completed and first exhibited in
Paris. This work by
Lucien-Pierre Sergent and Joseph Bertrand traveled to
New York,
Chicago and
San Francisco and
Tokyo.[2] In 1885 the Philadelphia Panorama Company installed the "Battle of Chattanooga" in two units in Kansas City and Philadelphia, it was painted by
Eugen Bracht. In 1892 a cyclorama was made of the 1876 "
Battle of Little Bighorn."[3]Buffalo, New York has a surviving cyclorama building from 1888 that has long since been converted to use as private offices.[4]
Hundreds of cycloramas were produced; however, only about thirty survive.
The main action centerpiece of the 1899 play Ben-Hur was the use of a live chariot race using real horses and real chariots set against a cyclorama. The Era's drama critic detailed how it was achieved by "four great cradles, 20ft in length and 14ft wide, which are movable back and front on railways". The horses galloped full-pelt towards the audience, secured by invisible steel cable traces and running on treadmills. Electric rubber rollers spun the chariot wheels. A vast cyclorama backdrop revolved in the opposite direction to create an illusion of massive speed, and fans created clouds of dust. The critic for The Illustrated London News described it as "a marvel of stage-illusion" that was "memorable beyond all else". The Sketch's critic called it "thrilling and realistic ... enough to make the fortune of any play" and noted that "the stage, which has to bear 30 tons' weight of chariots and horses, besides huge crowds, has had to be expressly strengthened and shored up".[5] It went on to inspire the multi-Oscar-winning
1959 film adaptation of Ben Hur, starring
Charlton Heston – featuring the key live chariot race.
Borodino Panorama, depicting the
Battle of Borodino between
Napoleon I of France and a Russian Army outside Moscow in 1812. On display in Moscow. 115 metres long by 15 metres high.
Stalingrad Battle Panorama, depicting the
Battle of Stalingrad between
Nazi Germany army and the Russian Army in 1942–1943. On display in
Volgograd, Russia. 120 metres long by 16 metres high (the biggest canvas of Russia).
Gettysburg Cyclorama, depicting the
Battle of Gettysburg during the U.S. Civil War is displayed at
Gettysburg National Military Park,
Pennsylvania. The version on display is the second of four known versions of this painting, and one of only two extant. The original was lost in 1933, and although rediscovered in 1965, has not returned to public display. The second version, originally created for a Boston exhibition, is now on display at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center.