Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: The Gettysburg Cyclorama

The Cyclorama is part of the museum package. Your first stop is a 20-minute movie about Gettysburg. Then they lead you into the Cyclorama room with the 360 degree painting of the battle. The lights are dim as you enter the room. Then a voiceover begins, telling the story of Gettysburg (again!) complete with sunrises, flashing lights, and explosions to make the painting come alive! It's quite entertaining.

We visited the new location for the Cyclorama and it is absolutely fantastic. The museum and the Cyclorama are now in one building. We thought we'd be able to view the Cyclorama and tour the museum in an hour or two. We spent so much time inside that we ran out of daylight to go on the battlefield driving tour. The way they present story line of the battle is extremely impressive. When you look down at the bottom of the painting, you can hardly tell where the landscaping they did ended and the painting started.

Did I say this was impressive? Not only has the painting been restored, I understand they added the parts of the portrait that had been cut off to accommodate the old Cyclorama. It is definitely a place to see if visiting the park for the reenactments this year.