About this property
The Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum was a Civil War museum located in Atlanta, Georgia. Its most noted attraction was the Atlanta Cyclorama, a cylindrical panoramic painting of the Battle of Atlanta. As of December 2021, the Cyclorama is located at the Atlanta History Center, while the building is now Zoo Atlanta's Savanna Hall. The painting was created as a traveling attraction for Northerners; it portrayed celebrated Union officers, while the portrayals of Confederate officers were not individualized. It was purchased and moved to Atlanta in 1891 by Paul Atkinson, who attempted to recast the Battle of Atlanta as a Confederate victory, repainting a group of Confederate prisoners of war so they became defeated Union soldiers. Paying visitors viewed the cylindrical painting from the inside, entering through an entrance in the floor. After being seated, the central cylinder rotates slowly, affording a view of the entire painting. The painting at one time was the largest oil painting in the world, and if unrolled would measure 49 feet (15 m) high by 358 feet (109 m) long, weighing 10,000 pounds. It held this record until 1894, when it was surpassed in size by the Racławice Panorama (15 by 114 meters (49 ft × 374 ft) a cycloramic painting depicting the Battle of Racławice. The Cyclorama was narrated at one time by volunteers, some of whom were veterans or widows of veterans of the Civil War. In 1960, Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield accepted the donation of a recorded narration written by Junius Andrew Park Jr., in honor of his father, Junius Andrew Park Sr., who was born and raised in Atlanta. Research was done by Lurline Richardson Park, the writer's wife. The narration was musically scored by Atlanta musician Sam T. Wilhoit, and the narration was read by Hollywood actor Victor Jory, who appeared in the original motion picture Gone with the Wind. All parties donated their time and labor. In later years, a revised narration was produced and narrated by actor Shepperd Strudwick. The museum displayed pictures and artifacts from the Civil War, including the Texas, a steam locomotive that pursued the captured train the General in the Great Locomotive Chase during the war. This raid was depicted in the 1927 Buster Keaton film The General and the 1956 Disney film The Great Locomotive Chase. A movie theater inside the museum showed a short film about the Atlanta campaign to visitors before they viewed the painting. The 14-minute film was called The Atlanta Campaign, and was directed by and narrated by James Earl Jones. It originally premiered on May 9, 1990, and had a budget of $300,000, including a 24-foot scale model of Atlanta and a cast of 5,000 reenactors. Many of the reenactors also appeared in the 1989 film, Glory.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta listed on the National Register?
Cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 9, 1971.
What type of historic resource is Cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta?
Cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta is classified as a object in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta?
The period of significance for Cyclorama of the Battle of Atlanta is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1921.
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