The National Park Service said Thursday that it would begin demolishing the Cyclorama building as soon as February, clearing the site ahead of the 150th anniversary commemoration of the battle.
The site will be restored to its 1863 appearance, complete with a period apple orchard and replicas of the wood fences that once crisscrossed the fields, park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon said. The massive painting that the building once housed has been separately preserved.
— philly.com
6 Comments
I've said this elsewhere but I want to say it here too: Detractors claim that this building is insensitive because it was built on the actual battlefield where soldiers died. I can't disagree completely with that sentiment, but! literally 500' away from this building are a KFC, a McDonald';s, and "General Pickett's Buffet". Half a mile down the road is the Gettysburg Resort and Splash Park. The entire town is filled with tchotcke shops and luncheonettes with a Gettysburg theme.
How is that kind of generic roadside crap any MORE disrespectful than a building by a recognized master that was poorly sited back at a time when we weren't as sensitive as we are today? How can destroying what is truly a unique piece of art while allowing KFC to be visible from the battleground furthering our appreciation of the tragedy of this battle?
KFC was founded by Harland Sanders, who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky during the Great Depression. Sanders was an early pioneer of the restaurant franchising concept, with the first "Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise opening in Utah in the early 1950s. Its rapid expansion saw it grow too large for Sanders to manage, and he eventually sold the company to a group of investors. Despite this, his image was still used as branding (as "Colonel Sanders"; Sanders had been made a Kentucky colonel after the success of his initial restaurant)
There! He is a Kentucky "colonel" and that name goes far in a battle field. Same goes for "General Pickett's Buffet" plus "the Best Value Inn."
An Austrian Jewish immigrant's funny building on our battlefield?? Charge!!
Maybe they'll tear down the KFC also, but "truly a unique piece of art" ?
There's that empathy gap again.
FYI
Very cool photo. Maybe they can re-erect it in another location. I think their intent is to clean up the landscape to better immerse yourself in the natural state of the battle field, not to tear down this particular building whatever it's merits are.
Other than knowing that I must have been inside, because back in the 1990s i visited Gettysburg memorial and vividly remember the the Gettysburg Cyclorama (painted by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting “Pickett’s Charge”) itself, i don’t remember much of the building, spatially or other.
Nevertheless I am glad to know I did experience the building, if only briefly.
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