Featured Project

Gettysburg National Military Park - Cyclorama Diorama

Before modern movies, cycloramas were a very popular form of entertainment. These massive circular oil paintings were enhanced with realistic dioramas, placing visitors in the center of the scene.

In 2003, a major restoration project began to return the late 19th century cyclorama, "The Battle of Gettysburg," to its original glory. The project included a full restoration of the badly damaged 12.5-ton mural, recreation of the diorama, and creation of a sophisticated audio system to immerse visitors in the sights and sounds of battle.

Taylor Studios joined the team to create the massive three-dimensional diorama. This enormous undertaking involved carving a 9,341 square foot groundform and theming it to match the scene in the painting by creating numerous artifact replicas, fences, stone walls, and foliage.

One of the biggest challenges in this project was shipping the nearly 40-ton groundform. Since it was far too large to ship in one piece, all 565 individual foam blocks that made up the groundform had to be disassembled, shipped in 18 semis, and reassembled on-site. Taylor Studios carefully mapped out the location of each block and used a numbering system to make sure they could be reassembled quickly and accurately in the cramped installation space, bustling with other trades people.

Another major challenge came from the 2,000 lb functioning replica canon that needed to be placed in the scene. To keep the canon from crushing the groundform, Taylor Studios built a support platform to spread out the weight and used extra high-density foam for that section.

However, one of the most interesting challenges was theming the groundform to blend seamlessly into the mural. Much of the theming was done in our shop, so when the Taylor Studios team arrived for installation, it was the first time they had seen the painting in person. The 19th century mural was highly stylized in color and technique, so the landscape needed to match the painting, not the real world. Our talented artists finished the theming on-site, painting the groundform and the foliage to perfectly match the colors and styles of the mural. The result was breath-taking, making it difficult to tell where the mural ended and the diorama began.

The Cyclorama Experience is one of the most popular attractions at the Gettysburg Military Park. The cyclorama and film production can be viewed every 15 minutes from March 15 - November 30 then every 30 minutes from December 1 - March 14.

Links:

Learn more about the Gettysburg cyclorama conservation project.

Read about the cyclorama in the Washington Post

Read about the cyclorama in the L.A. Times

Read about the cyclorama in the New York Times

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