EPFL lab to digitize 1,000m2 'Swiss national treasure'

Panorama scroll close-up © Foundation for the Panorama of the Battle of Murten - Sarah Kenderdine, head of the Laboratory for Experimental Museology, is leading the digitization and valorization of the Panorama of the Battle of Murten - a 100 x 10-meter work created in 1893 by German panorama painter Louis Braun - in an undertaking that promises to yield one of the largest digital images ever produced. The painting, which depicts the moment that Swiss Confederates gained the upper hand against the Duchy of Burgundy during its 1476 invasion - has never been permanently mounted for public presentation. Following its brief display in Zurich and Geneva in the late 19 century and at the Swiss National Exposition in 2002 (Expo.02), the epic work has spent the last 20 years in a military storage facility - until now. Thanks to a collaboration between EPFL and the Stiftung für das Panorama der Schlacht bei Murten (Foundation for the Panorama of the Battle of Murten), the painting will be digitized by Kenderdine and her Lab for Experimental Museology (eM+) in the College of Humanities. The researchers are currently analyzing the panorama for its conservation prior to the digital imaging process. Both activities require a large-scale mechanical platform to hold the conservators working above the painting, and the camera rig that will allow approximately 400,000 images to be taken of its surface. A 1,600-gigapixel digital twin The imaging will take advantage of an iXH 150-megapixel camera with a 120mm lens, specifically built for high-resolution digitization projects and provided by camera systems manufacturer Phase One.