Cycloramas, 360-degree panoramic paintings, were popular attractions in the late 19th century. In 1883, French artist Paul Philippoteaux completed a massive painting of Pickett's Charge, the famous last battle of Gettysburg. After touring, one of the four versions of the painting went on display in Gettysburg in 1913; it was purchased by the National Park Service in 1942. In 1956, the National Park Service launched a 10-year inititative aimed at improving visitor services to national parks with new facilities and infrastructure. Richard Neutra (1892-1970), an Austrian emigrant to the US who was an advocate for international-style modern architecture, was commissioned to design a new home for the Gettysburg Cyclorama. Opened on the centennial of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1963 at Ziegler's Grove, the site of Pickett's Charge, Neutra's Cyclorama Center was a concrete and glass cylindrical drum, 109 meters (358 feet) in circumference and 8 meters (26 feet) high, overlooking the battlefield. Unfortunately, a lack of maintenance allowed water leakage to damage the painting as well as the building. A new building housing the restored painting opened in spring 2008. Neutra's Cyclorama Center is slated for demolition so that its site, considered by many to be hallowed ground, can be restored to its 1863 appearance. The Recent Past Preservation Network, an education and advocacy organization that focuses on significant sites of the past 50 years, mounted an international campaign to highlight the case of the Cyclorama Center. The group contends that the Cyclorama's demolition will establish a dangerous precedent, endorsed by a government agency, for disregarding mid-century modern architecture. Listed on WMF's 2006 Watch, the Cyclorama Center's situation should bring attention to the plight of postwar architecture more broadly.
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