The Restauration

The panorama was restored between 1996 and 2001 for the Swiss National Exhibition (Expo.02) so that it could be shown to the public for five months in a cube erected by Jean Nouvelle on Lake Murten.

The starting point was decades of storage in a warehouse in a rolled state. The emergency conservation work (1996-98) led to a restoration campaign (1998-2002) and to preparations for its public exhibition as part of Expo.02. After the exhibition, the panorama was returned to a depot that is not accessible to the public. Minor conservation measures were carried out for the new digitisation in 2022.

Restoration of the panorama (1996–2002)

In 1996, the Panorama Foundation commissioned a group of restorers to clarify its condition and carry out conservation work. The starting point was decades of storage in a rolled state. To clarify its condition, the painting, weighing over 1.5 tonnes, was transported to Bern and examined by a team of specialists. Endangered layers of paint were conserved, the condition was recorded photographically, graphically and in writing and the painting was transferred to new rolls. The painting was transferred to a workshop in the former Von Roll site in Bern's Länggass neighbourhood.

In a first step, the pieces of the painting were laid flat individually in stages on a curved work platform. The work was carried out on a mobile platform. From there, the deformations were levelled, the painting cleaned and the cracks and defects repaired.

In the second work phase, the parts were suspended vertically one by one on a special circular scaffold (12 meters high and 35 meters long, radius 15 meters). After cementing and retouching with conventional coloured pencils, the pieces were rolled up again and transported to Murten at the beginning of 2002, where they were rolled out again for Expo.02 in Jean Nouvel's Monolith.

Image comparison before/after restoration

Hanging a section of the panorama in the workshop

Conservation measures 2022

The panorama scrolls were examined by a team of specialists led by Olivier Guyot as part of the digitisation project at the EPFL. The state of preservation was excellent, and light preventive conservation measures and cleaning were carried out before digitisation.

Further information