09.1

//Source(s): The Panorama Phenomenon: Mesdag Panorama 1881- 1981 Published by the Foundation for the Preservation of the Centenarian Mesdag Panorama (September 1981) Den Haag, Holland editor Evelyn J. Fruitema written by Paul A. Zoetmulder Mesdag Panorama, Zeestraat 65b, 2518AA The Hague// page 25 "In the initial period, panorama painters looked for existing large premises in which their work of art could be hung, but soon afterwards they began to construct special small round wooden buildings, primitive sheds, constructed = or so it appears = around the circular canvases. These kinds of contraptions could be found in many towns around 1800. The simple sheds in Hamburg, Leipzig and Amsterdam which housed the first panoramas were examples (...)" page 26 "Barker's first rotunda was 11 m. high and had a diameter of 26 m. In the big capitals of the time, London, Paris and Vienna, where one could count on a steady number of visitors, there arose, in due course, more professional wooden or stone structures. The exteriors of these rotundas were simple, undecorated, cylindrical or polygonal in shape, like the twin panorama buildings at Montmartre (Paris) or Barker's ingenious two-storied rotunda on Leicester Square. "Later again, a specific rotunda architecture developed, narrowly linked to the construction of circuses (...) By employing new materials (iron combined with glass) the rotundas became even more spectacular towards the middle of the 19th century. With the building on the Champs Elysees designed by Hittorf (the creator of the Place de la Concorde), Paris became the model for numerous later buildings (...) "Most rotundas bult later in the 19th century were monumental, pompous buildings, often abundantly decorated, on which the then fashionable neo-styles were appled with great zest. (...) In the earlier days London had its enormous Colosseum (1829), Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Salzburg, Vienna, Brussels, Milan and Madrid all had their own baroque panorama homes. They were also to be found in the Netherlands. At one time Paris boasted at least 13 of this kind of round art temples. "When later on panorama companies were founded, a certain uniformity in construction developed so as to facilitate the exchange of the paintings. The dimensions were also considerably larger than before. Standard building norms were a diameter of 40 m. and a height of 15 m." page 28 "Early in the 20th century, the age of the panorama definitely came to an end. It was impossible to fight the competition of the oncoming cinema. (...) Also the new photoprinting technique, by means of which photographs could appear in illustrated periodicals, was a nail in the coffin of the panorama, which was not any longer susceptible to innovation. The panorama buildings were mostly pulled down. but sometimes adapted to other uses. They were transformed into theatres, cinemas, riding-schools, artificial ice-rinks, mosques and suchlike. Untold numbers of rotundas burnt down, sometimes well insured, for inexplicable reasons. With the buildings the numerous Societes Anonymes disappeared as well. But the panorama has not been entirely relegated to history. The Mesdag Panorama and a number of other circular displays have survived in spite of adversity."
 * Dead medium: the Panorama**
 * From: bruces@well.com Bruce Sterling**