Dresden Panometer

Dresden Panometer.
One of the vedute by Bernardo Bollotto which provided a basis for the panorama; this one shows the Neumarkt and the Frauenkirche.

The Dresden Panometer is an attraction in Dresden, Germany. It is a panoramic painting inside a former gasometer, showing Dresden as it might have appeared in 1756, accompanied by an exhibition. The Panometer was created in 2006 by the Austrian-born artist Yadegar Asisi, who coined the name as a portmanteau of "panorama" and "gasometer". In 2003 he had opened a Panometer in Leipzig.

Building

The Dresden Panometer occupies a disused telescopic gas holder in Reick, built in 1879–80. The gasometer is 39 metres (128 ft) in height and 54 metres (177 ft) in diameter. Buildings of this type are particularly suitable for panoramic pictures due to their circular shape and ample interior space.[1][2]

Panorama and exhibition

The panorama, titled Dresden 1756, hangs on the inner wall and is 27 metres (89 ft) in height and 105 metres (344 ft) in circumference. It is viewed from a raised platform in the centre, and uses perspective to create a realistic sense of distance. It portrays the baroque Dresden skyline of 1756 – for the most part historically accurate, but with some artistic modifications – as seen from the Katholische Hofkirche. There is a musical soundtrack by the Belgian composer Eric Babak.[2][3]

The circular walkway between the panorama and the outer wall contains an exhibition on the creation of the painting and the old Dresden skyline. It features historic city maps and original drawings from the 18th and 19th centuries, as well as paintings of the skyline by Asisi himself. There is also a large bell from the Neustädter Rathaus and exterior decorations from now-demolished buildings.[3]

Asisi's research in creating the panorama was based on several vedute: precise, historic drawings of the city skyline. The most important veduta painter in mid-18th century Dresden was Bernardo Bellotto (nephew of Canaletto, and sometimes actually known by that name), whose pictures can be precisely dated.[3]

The Dresden Panometer received over 500,000 visitors in its first two years from December 2006. Asisi plans to display the current panorama until 2016.[2]

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ Gasbehälter (Gasometer) und Gaswerke in Deutschland Oliver Frühschütz. (German)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ein Dornröschen erwacht... DREWAG. Interview with Yadegar Asisi. (German)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 »1756 Dresden« – unfold the myth Home page.

Coordinates: 51°1′32″N 13°47′18″E / 51.02556°N 13.78833°E