The Murten Panorama, from 2D to 4D

The Murten Panorama (10x100m) was realised by the renowned German panorama painter Louis Braun (1836-1916) in 1893, commissioned by a Swiss consortium. It commemorates the Swiss victory against the army of the Duchy of Burgundy in 1476 and exists as a symbol of independence as well as martial prowess. Originally displayed between 1894 and 1909, it later disappeared from public consciousness. Only in 2002, the panorama was restored and put on display at the Swiss National Expo.02. Since then, it has remained rolled up in storage. The physical display of an original painting spanning 1000m2 represents just as much of a serious challenge today as it did in the nineteenth century. Public attention regarding this national treasure is has recently increased, whilst solutions for a new display are being explored. Moreover, a new campaign for its digitalisation using the latest imaging technologies is being pursued. This article explores how the artwork might be transformed from the second to the fourth dimension. It does so by outlining the work’s late medieval and early modern pictorial sources, and by presenting the challenges and output of this new imaging effort, that will result in an image resolution four times higher than any single image in the world.