Gettysburg National Military Park: museum and visitor center

We visited Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, including a third-party museum and visitor center.

An interactive map:

Visitor center:

Gift store:

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war”:

Exhibits:

Theater:

The Gettysburg Cyclorama, a 360° painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting Pickett’s Charge, the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. It was painted in 1883, and measures 42 feet by 377 feet. The viewing of it started with a dramatization of the battle with light effects:

After the light show, it was shown without light effects. The foreground in front of the painting is a natural-looking landscape, blending into the painting:

An easter egg: a wounded President Lincoln is in this part, representing a wounded nation:

Impressive stuff.

The Gettysburg address:

Tomorrow, the battlefield and cemetery.