I had never heard of the Bourbaki Panorama in Luzern before and I am so pleased the lady at the Ticket Office at the Glacier Garden suggested a discounted ticket to the garden and the panorama. The Panorama exhibit is just located a block or so down from the garden and the building houses below a Cinema and above is the painting itself. And what a painting it is!
The Museum houses the enormous 1881 cylindrical painting by Edouard Castres (15m high x 112m wide) immortalising one of the defining events in Swiss history: a defeated French army flees to Switzerland in the harsh winter of 1871 and, in a remarkable act of solidarity, finds refuge.
Complementing the large-scale panorama is a permanent exhibition downstairs which expands on the historical theme and offers the visitor additional information. The viewer is brought closer to the individuals whose stories are told, to the solidarity of the Swiss people and to the painting’s origins.
Upstairs, the unique visual experience offered by the picture and the exhibition on the floor below leave a lasting impression as the people and objects have “come alive” out of the painting.
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