Atlanta’s Cyclorama: the Battle of Atlanta

What is the Cyclorama?

A cyclorama is a large scale painting in the round that is displayed in a cylindric building. A viewer standing in the center of the space will experience a 360 degree view. The goal is for the viewer to feel as if they are standing in the scene. Many cycloramas included dioramas, which are 3D figures and landscaping that blend into the bottom of the painting. These paintings traveled from town to town at the end of the 19th century as entertainment. They were the closest thing to a modern movie that people could experience at that time.

Of the hundreds of cycloramas created, only a few survive today and one of them is Atlanta’s Cyclorama. This painting tells the story of the US Civil War’s Battle of Atlanta. Today the Cyclorama at its diorama are housed at the Atlanta History Center in an addition built specifically for the painting: the Lloyd and Mary Ann Whitaker Cyclorama Building. The historic Cyclorama building in Grant Park has been repurposed by Zoo Atlanta.

You can see a cyclorama of the US Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

My Personal Experience with Atlanta’s Cyclorama

When I came to Atlanta for a summer internship, my mother told me that one of the best things that she had ever seen on her family vacations growing up was a painting of the US Civil War in the round.  My mother grew up in Ohio and her father was a Civil War buff. Their family travels often took them to significant sites from the Civil War. 

I saw the Cyclorama twice in its historic 1921 building adjacent to Zoo Atlanta.  I understand now that the Battle of Atlanta that I saw was an attraction meant to entertain.  We sat in risers that rotated as we listened to a narrated story. A spotlight drew our attention to different aspects of the painting.  I can see how this immersive experience was easily the most one of the best things that my mother saw as a child when her family primarily toured historic battlefields on their vacations.  In the 1880s, the Cyclorama provided a movie theater-like experience. 

Now that the painting is on display at the Atlanta History Center, the painting is presented as an artifact.  The exhibit, Cyclorama: the Big Picture, shows the full history of the painting from its inception to how it came to be housed at the Atlanta History Center. 

History of Atlanta’s Cyclorama

I was presented with a single presentation of the Battle of Atlanta when I visited the cyclorama attraction in its Grant Park home.  The Atlanta History Center documents all the stories that this painting told over the years. 

Twenty-two years following the Battle of Atlanta, the cyclorama painting was developed from the Union point of view. It documented an important victory. The American Panorama Company in Milwaukee and a group of 17 German painters created the Cyclorama.  The Atlanta History Center exhibit illustrates how the painters came to the site and how they reconstructed the battle scene.

For years, the painting of the Battle of Atlanta traveled around the country before the Cyclorama made its home in Atlanta.  While this painting seems like a historic document, it was actually created for entertainment value. The purpose of the painting was to produce an income.  The Battle of Atlanta would not sell well to the Atlanta audience as a decisive Union victory.

The Cyclorama in Atlanta

When the painted came to Atlanta in 1892, the proprietors simply modified the narrative. The Cyclorama told the story of “the only Confederate victory ever painted.”  As this narrative was not true, they reversed it in the 1930s.  An interactive display at the Atlanta History Center explains the audience that the attraction appealed to during various time periods.  It includes audio clips from the narratives over the years. These audio clips were fascinating.  At the time my mother saw it as a child, I would describe the narrative as having a Gone with the Wind theme.

Although the Cyclorama was an attraction for entertainment, it came across as historical fact to its viewers, who spread these stories as if they were true!

The Restored Painting on Exhibit at the Atlanta History Center

Today the restored Cyclorama painting is featured in the round in a 2-story space. The Atlanta History Center provides a series of interactive exhibits sharing the story behind:

• the place that is represented
• the painting
• the painters who created the work
• the painting’s audience and how it varied through time and place 

An escalator takes you to the upper level so that you can look down at the painting.  I preferred to see it from the lower level.  I think that the diorama in the foreground, which was a later addition, really brings the scene to life.  When Clark Gable (the actor who played Rhett Butler in the film, Gone with the Wind) saw the painting, he requested that his likeness be included.  You can see him as a fallen figure in the diorama.  Many of the artists are who completed the work also have their likenesses on display in the painting itself. 

Visiting the Cyclorama Today

Cyclorama: the Big Picture at the Atlanta History Center is an exhibit not to be missed.  Be sure to watch the video documenting the painting’s move from it’s 1921 home in Grant Park to this current location.  The repair and restoration work that the Atlanta History Center completed was significant.  They even restored a section of the painting that was cut out. They realized upon installation that the previous building was slightly too small for the canvas, so they had to improvise. 

Visit this link to learn everything you need to know about visiting the Atlanta History Center. Have you seen the Cyclorama before? If yes, please tell me about it in the comments?