Panorama of the Battle of Morat

The enormous circular work, 111 metres (364 ft) long and 10.5 metres (34 ft) high, painted by Louis Braun in 1893/94, depicts the rout by the Swiss confederates of the mighty Burgundian army led by Charles the Bold (1476). The Panorama of the Battle of Morat is one of the few extant cycloramas dating from the late 19th century and was fully restored for Expo.02. It shows how this turning-point in Swiss history was perceived at the time. And it also exemplifies the means used to transport the public into another world before the invention of wide-screen cinema, multimedia and virtual reality.

With precise details, sophisticated perspective and a dramatic atmosphere, the panorama creates an illusion in which hardly any blood flows, although in reality 12 000 soldiers died in the Battle of Morat. It is still an impressive, thought-provoking creation. Because today we have stopped wondering how most pictures relate to reality.