Tuesday, August 22, 2017

GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD MUSEUM

Monday, August 21 – We were at the Gettysburg Battlefield Museum this morning by 8:45 to see the movie as an introduction to the historical Battle of Gettysburg. The movie was excellent.

After the movie, we then moved to the Cyclorama. (The following is taken from the Internet.) Cycloramas were a very popular form of entertainment in the late 1800's, both in America and Europe.  During the 1800's, most were lost or destroyed as their popularity died out with the introduction of a more entertaining art form, motion pictures. The "Battle of Gettysburg" Cyclorama at Gettysburg National Military Park is one that has survived. The culmination of the battle was captured on canvas by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux. The "Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg" opened to the public in Chicago in 1883, complete with a three-dimensional earthen foreground littered with the relics of battle, stone walls, shattered trees and broken fences. Purchased by the National Park Service in the late 1940's, the painting was moved to the newly constructed park visitor center in 1962. The artistic work underwent a massive restoration project that required hours of hand labor to repair water damaged portions of the painting and two large sections faded by years of direct sunlight. The Gettysburg Cyclorama is 377 feet long, 42 feet high and weighs 12.5 tons.

Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg

Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg

Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg

There is no way to tell in the photo below where the foreground sand ends and the the painting begins. If you look at the three poles around the well, the front pole is real and leaning against the wall of the painting. We didn’t even know that the pole in the front was real until our guide pointed it out. The foreground fence is also real and blends right into the painting flawlessly. It is just amazing.

Cyclorama of the Battle of Gettysburg

The movie and the Cyclorama both come highly recommended, and we certainly agree with that assessment. We absolutely loved them both, but the Cyclorama is AWESOME! What a magnificent way to familiarize ourselves about the three-day Battle of Gettysburg.

We then moved to the museum where we spent the rest of the morning. The museum is fabulous and Paul, a non-museum kind-of-guy, actually spent the entire morning with Marsha and truly enjoyed the museum. There are thousands of displays and dozens of videos to help us understand the enormous significance of the Battle of Gettysburg. This is one of the best museums we have visited! We will show some highlights in photos we took. We won’t show you the entire 175 pictures the Marsha took….hehe.

DSC08687

Ignore the feet in the next photo…lol

DSC08687

Gettysburg Museum

We learned so many fascinating facts like the next two.

Gettysburg Museum

Gettysburg Museum

Gettysburg Museum

Gettysburg Museum

There was an excellent display showing each state that fought in the Civil War and an estimate of how many soldiers came from each state. Just a few facts.

Ohio…313,180 Union Enlistments
Texas…2,012 Union Enlistments; 86,702 Confederate Enlistments
New York had the most of all states….338,850 Union Enlistments

If you don’t know what an Army is, here is a good explanation.

DSC08699

Gettysburg Museum

Gettysburg Museum

Gettysburg Museum

Gettysburg Museum

Gettysburg Museum

We will never be able to keep up posting each day. This was just what we did in the morning of day one. There is so much to see and do here. We are just going to enjoy our time and post as we can.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.