Цилиндрлік панорама және оның тарихы

Panoramic painting on the inside of a cylindrical canvas

A cyclorama is a panoramic image on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to give viewers standing in the middle of the cylinder a 360° view, and also a building designed to show a panoramic image. The intended effect is to make viewers, surrounded by the panoramic image, feel as if they were standing in the midst of the place depicted in the image.

Panoramas were invented by Irish painter Robert Barker, who wanted to find a way to capture the panoramic view from Calton Hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland. He subsequently opened his first cyclorama building in Edinburgh in 1787. Cycloramas were very popular in the late 19th century. In 1885 the Philadelphia Panorama Company installed the "Battle of Chattanooga" in two units in Kansas City and Philadelphia, it was painted by Eugen Bracht. In 1892 a cyclorama was made of the 1876 "Battle of Little Bighorn." Buffalo, New York has a surviving cyclorama building from 1888 that has long since been converted to use as private offices. Hundreds of cycloramas were produced; however, only about thirty survive. An extension of this concept into motion pictures was pioneered with the invention of the Cinéorama that debuted at the 1900 Paris Exposition. This evolved into such formats as IMAX and Circle Vision 360°.

The main action centerpiece of the 1899 play Ben Hur was the use of a live chariot race using real horses and real chariots set against a cyclorama. The Era's drama critic detailed how it was achieved by "four great cradles, 20ft in length and 14ft wide, which are movable back and front on railways". The horses galloped full pelt towards the audience, secured by invisible steel cable traces and running on treadmills. Electric rubber rollers spun the chariot wheels. A vast cyclorama backdrop revolved in the opposite direction to create an illusion of massive speed, and fans created clouds of dust. The critic for The Illustrated London News described it as "a marvel of stage illusion" that was "memorable beyond all else". The Sketch's critic called it "thrilling and realistic enough to make the fortune of any play" and noted that "the stage, which has to bear 30 tons' weight of chariots and horses, besides huge crowds, has had to be expressly strengthened and shored up". It went on to inspire the multi Oscar winning 1959 film adaptation of Ben Hur, starring Charlton Heston – featuring the key live chariot race.