Gettysburg in the Rain - Day Three

     It poured on our third day, so we went to the visitor center.  We watched a twenty minute film and sat for mini-movies as we moved through the museum displays.  We also viewed the cyclorama, a circular painting done by French artist Paul Philippoteaux.  Wikipedia says this about the painting:

Philippoteaux became interested in cycloramas and, in collaboration with his father, created The Defence of the Fort d'Issy in 1871. Other successful works included Taking of Plevna (Turko-Russian War), the Passage of the Balkans, The Belgian Revolution of 1830, Attack in the Park, The Battle of Kars, The Battle of Tel-el-Kebir, and the Derniere Sortie. He was commissioned by a group of Chicago investors in 1879 to create the Gettysburg Cyclorama. He spent several weeks in April 1882 at the site of the Gettysburg Battlefield to sketch and photograph the scene, and extensively researched the battle and its events over several months. Local photographer William H. Tipton created a series of panoramic photographs shot from a wooden tower erected along present-day Hancock Avenue. The photos, pasted together, formed the basis of the composition. Philippoteaux also interviewed several survivors of the battle, including Union generals Winfield S. Hancock, Abner Doubleday, Oliver O. Howard, and Alexander S. Webb, and based his work partly on their recollections.

Philippoteaux enlisted a team of five assistants, including his father until his death, to create the final work. It took over a year and a half to complete. The finished painting was nearly 100 yards long and weighed six tons. When completed for display, the full work included not just the painting, but numerous artifacts and sculptures, including stone walls, trees, and fences. The effect of the painting has been likened to the nineteenth century equivalent of an IMAX theater.

     The painting hanging at Gettysburg is 27 feet high and 359 feet in circumference.  With the props set up in the foreground and the lighting, the 3-D effect is impressive.

No flash photography is permitted in the cyclorama viewing area.  This picture is from Google images.

     The original visitor center, completed in 1962, was designed by Richard Nuetra.  It was low and modern, topped by a concrete cylinder that housed the cyclorama.  http://www.architecturaldigest.com/blogs/daily/2013/01/richard-neutra-cyclorama-gettysburg-national-military-park

This building was nicknamed "Starship Enterprise."

      In 1999, the National Park Service decided the modern structure was out of keeping with the context of the Civil War.  After lots of disagreement, the Park Service was permitted to bulldoze the original structure and build a new center in the 1860's style.  The new center reopened in 2008.

Today's Visitor Center