Gettysburg Cyclorama

In June I visited the Gettysburg Cyclorama. The Cyclorama is a gigantic round painting of “Pickett’s Charge” in which the audience stands in the middle of the art and can look around and see different aspects of the battle on July 3, 1863. I had been to the Cyclorama at least three times before in the 1960s’ state of the art Richard Neutra building that was recently taken down. But the experience I had this year was completely different from what I went through in prior visits.

The painting has been restored, pieces of the work which had been missing for decades were replaced, a whole new building was erected to display the painting was constructed, and newly built dioramas compliment the work. In other words, this was a whole new experience for me! The fact that the restoration took place a decade and a half ago just shows how long it took me to pony up the money to get in to see it.

The Cyclorama is housed at the same site as the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum and Visitors Center. You can get tickets to the museum, a film, and the Cyclorama here. It is good to get tickets a day ahead, if you can. As you can see below, I went on Friday and there was a big crowd waiting to get into the Cyclorama.

Every fifteen minutes a new group of people are let in to first watch a movie about Gettysburg and then to go to the Cyclorama. The new building was constructed in 2008. It is comfortable, with state of the art sound system, and superb lighting to view the painting. The painting is 42 feet high and its circumference is 377 feet. When I saw it, the color was so realistic it looked more like a photograph than a painting. There were actual 3D battlefield debris on the ground integrated into the Cyclorama experience which made the painting even more convincing.

Below, you can see the audience looking at the painting during the narrated portion of the viewing. The painting is nearly four stories tall and it creates an illusion that what you are seeing is really happening in front of you.

In the restoration, the artists put a lot of effort in coloring the sky correctly. Take a look at the top half of the painting below and tell me they got it wrong.

In the photo above, a Parrott Rifle is being moved into position to repel Pickett’s Charge. The lead artist went to Governor’s Island in New York to study the type of artillery used during the Civil War.

The original artists, led by Paul Dominique Philippoteaux, commissioned a photographer to take photographs from where the center of the Cyclorama so that the landscape artists could paint in the hills and mountains viewable around Gettysburg. Again, a high degree of exactitude can be seen.

The detail of the background ridges, the cannon fire from the Confederate artillery, and the distant movement of supporting elements shows the detail the artists went to to make this an accurate picture of what happened that day.

The artists used eyewitnesses to tell them where units were active during Pickett’s Charge, where commanders were seen, and where batteries were pointed.

If you look at the photo below, you can see the diorama in which the road comes out in 3D with an actual cannon in the foreground.

After viewing the Cyclorama, you can go to room where a miniaturized version of the painting can be viewed.

 

Scenes have numbers showing prominent features.

Here, Number 11 is Union General Alexander Webb. I picked him because my step-son just graduated from City College in New York where Webb was the second president of the school. But you can look at the whole painting and use this key to decipher the people and terrain.

I enjoyed the movie narrated by Morgan Freeman, the narrated tour of the Cyclorama, and the questions from the audience that the docent answered after the presentation. The one thing I did not like was the very short time after the presentation when the audience could examine the painting up close. There was just a few minutes to look at favorite parts of the painting before the lights turned out! This is what it looked like after the lights were extinguished.

A minute or two after the lights were turned off, we were escorted out. If you go to the Cyclorama make sure you see the aspects that most interest you right from the start. You may not get another chance unless you pay to come back later.

After you see the Cyclorama, you should tour the museum. It takes about two hours. Many people like to go through the museum early in the morning, and then tour the battlefield. If you do that, you can get breakfast or lunch at the cafeteria in the Visitors Center.

The cafeteria is set up for budget-conscious families with most meals set between ten and twenty dollars.

The indoor seating area is set up so that you’ll be seated next to strangers, but it allows for space for everyone to have a meal.

Outside, there are picnic tables that will accommodate four adults, or a family of six including kids.

Those who are particularly interested in this painting should consult The Gettysburg Cyclorama: The Turning Point of the Civil War on Canvas by Chris Brenneman and Sue Boardman. It gives an overview of the history of the Cyclorama and a scene by scene analysis of each section of it. 

All color photos taken by Pat Young.

Photo Tour of Gettysburg National Military Park Museum

Photo Tour of Elizabeth Thorn Statue Gettysburg

Lincoln’s Seated Statue at Gettysburg Visitors Center

To explore all the sites Click Here for our new Google Map presentation. 

 

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