Visiting the Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama

If you're planning a trip to Gettysburg, you need to add a visit to the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center where you'll find the world-famous Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama painted by the artist Paul Dominique Philippoteaux. This piece of artwork was first shown in 1884 in Boston.

Cycloramas are large-sized oil on canvas paintings that were popular in the late 1800's in Europe and North America. When viewing a cyclorama you get a 3-D effect, which allows you to see the entire scene 360 degrees. These displays are often enhanced with colorful lights, sounds and life-sized displays to help the scene really come to life for those who are viewing them.

On a recent visit to the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center we took the opportunity to view the restored Cyclorama called The Battle of Gettysburg. When you enter the park, you have to pay separate admission to go through the museum, to view a film and/or to visit the Cyclorama. On the day that we visited, we paid admission to all three of them which was $15.00 per adult.

We first watched the film which features Morgan Freeman during the narrating and once it was over, they moved our entire group up to the Cyclorama. To get there, we rode up on an escalator. If you're handicapped or having problems walking or using an escalator, they do have a special motorized handicap lift.

Once up in the Cyclorama area...they dim the lights and start the presentation and story. You can use a camera, but if you do...you can't use any flash. They also request that you turn off all cellphones during the presentation. No seating is available, so please be prepared to stand and walk around during the show.

The Gettysburg Cyclorama is 377 feet long, 42 feet high and weighs 12.5 tons. It's quite stunning to see and after you see it and hear the presentation, you can really put the Battle of Gettysburg into perspective. The lights and sounds are amazing, and really grab the viewer's attention. We saw mostly adults experiencing it, and the few children that we saw were enjoying the presentation too.

The entire "experience" lasted about 20 minutes in length and once it concluded, we took the stairs down to the next level to view the Cyclorama in miniature (although it's not really miniature in size). We spent about 10 minutes there and then proceeded into the museum which I will cover extensively in another post here on our travel blog.

You can learn more about the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center where the Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama is housed by visiting their website online. If you're planning a visit to Gettysburg, especially if you plan on taking a Gettysburg Battlefield Tour, we highly recommend that you visit the Museum and experience the Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama too. It was an amazing experience!

Looking for places to stay, things to do and places to eat while visiting Gettysburg in Pennsylvania? You can find our list of recommendations right here on our travel blog.

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