Panometer Leipzig

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Panometer Leipzig
Panometer Leipzig
The panometer from the north
Location data
State : Germany
Region : Saxony
City : Leipzig
Construction data
Construction: 1909-1910
Business: 1910-1977
Shutdown: 1977
Modification: 2002-2005
Reuse: Exhibition building
Technical specifications
Type: Wet gas tank
Construction: Telescopic gas container
Height : 30-49.4 m
Diameter : ~ 57 m

The Panometer Leipzig is an exhibition building in Leipzig , in which Yadegar Asisi has been presenting a monumental panorama image combined with an associated exhibition since 2003 . As the building used to be a gasometer , Asisi created the made-up word panometer from panorama and gasometer .

history

In 1883/1884, as in other German cities at that time, a rotunda was built on Roßplatz in Leipzig to display panoramic images , in particular of battles of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 . In 1927 the panorama exhibition was closed and the building was destroyed in the Second World War in 1943. At the beginning of the 2000s, the German-Iranian architect and artist Yadegar Asisi took up the opportunity to create a gigantic panorama with the means now available from computing and printing technology , and recognized a disused gasometer as a suitable place for its presentation.

The construction

With the Gasometer II, the largest of the three previously enclosed gasometers on the Connewitz site of Stadtwerke Leipzig on Richard-Lehmann-Straße was selected. This was also best preserved. One had already been blown up, and the second, Gasometer I, was missing the roof membrane. Until 1977 the Gasometer II of the Leipzig Gas Works 2, built in 1910 by August Friedrich Viehweger , and others were used to store the city ​​gas produced here . In April 1949 "Gaswerk 2" was renamed "Gaswerk Max Reimann". The structural shell of the former telescopic container has been unused since gas production was stopped.

The circular brick building has a diameter of almost 57 meters. The height of the wall masonry is 30 meters, and the dome with the lantern reaches 49.4 meters.

In 2002, the renovation of the building began, in particular the roof dome. The partly defective windows were blindly closed. The renovation work lasted until 2005. Finally, a light-flooded glass foyer was built towards the second, neighboring Gasometer I, in which the Panometer bistro is also located.

Like Gasometer I and other facilities on the site, the building is a listed building .

Image and exhibition

So far, the panorama pictures had a length of about 105 meters and were between 30 and 35 meters high. They currently represent the largest panorama pictures in the world. The panorama "1756 Dresden", also created by Asisi in the Panometer Dresden opened in 2006, is a few meters lower. On the basis of photographs, drawings and paintings, an image file of the huge image was created using the technique of digital image processing. Then the picture was printed on individual textile strips, which were then put together to form a round picture and hung up as a whole. The image is viewed from a raised platform in the middle. Corresponding perspective distortion of the picture elements creates a spatial overall impression for the viewer.

The presentation also includes light and sound effects. A day and night cycle is simulated in each case. Natural sounds convey more realism. The whole thing is accompanied by music that was composed for the special image by the Belgian composer Eric Babak .

The 105 meters of the image range correspond to a diameter of 33 meters, so that an area of ​​over 10 meters remains free between the image and the gasometer wall. Asisi uses this area for an accompanying exhibition on the subject of the picture. There is also a film projection room in this area.

The projects

The topics to date have been Mount Everest from 2003 to 2005 , ancient Rome from 2005 to 2009 , the tropical rainforest from 2009 to 2013 , Leipzig after the Battle of the Nations from 2013 to 2015 , the Great Barrier Reef in 2015/16 , and the wreck from 2017 to 2019 the Titanic and since January 2019 with “Carolas Garten” a private garden in Leipzig. A new hanging technique in recent years has made it possible to repeat previous topics at short notice.

Everest

Everest

The first exhibition in the Panometer was opened in 2003. The 8,848 meter high Mount Everest was the highest of the mountains shown in the 360 ​​° image, but Yadegar Asisi was primarily concerned with conveying the seemingly limitless feeling of space of such a high mountain. The viewer's point of view was therefore the Valley of Silence at an altitude of about 6000 meters, which is the last base camp for all expeditions to Everest before the ascent.

In the accompanying exhibition, Asisi contrasted the expeditions of the western world in the Himalayas , which were treated along the inner wall of the gasometer, with the Buddhist residents' view of Everest on the opposite wall. Five Indian monks had scattered a mandala made of colored sand, and a stupa specially made and consecrated for the exhibition in Nepal was one of the highlights here.

Rome 312

Rome 312

The panorama picture was a new version of the historical "Panorama of Rome with the Entry of Constantine in CCCXII" by Josef Bühlmann and Alexander Wagner from 1889. It showed the entry of the victor of the battle of the Milvian Bridge with his army into the city in photorealistic resolution ancient city of millions on the seven hills on October 29, 312. The view extended over the city on the Tiber with meticulously worked out details in the foreground, its temples, thermal baths and tenements to the Alban mountains on the horizon.

In the accompanying exhibition, everyday life in ancient Rome with the habits of its citizens as well as buildings in the city were presented in more detail. This was done, among other things, with casts from the antiquities collection of the University of Leipzig as well as paintings, architectural sketches and models of famous Roman buildings. A special feature of the exhibition was the reconstruction of the 12 meter high colossal statue of Emperor Constantine . The statue, which only exists in pieces in the ancient original, was presented to the visitor as an anamorphosis , a spatial simulation that is dependent on viewing.

The panorama was on view from November 26, 2005 to January 31, 2009.

Amazonia

Amazonia

With this image composition about the Brazilian rainforest, Asisi wanted to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the death of the great German natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt in 2009, who also traveled to South America. The diverse representation of the fauna and flora of the rainforest opened up new discoveries to the visitor, especially when viewed for a long time. This was due not least to the immensely improved image resolution, which meant that some small animals could only be seen with a telescope. Animal sounds and a tropical thunderstorm staged with light and sound rounded off the exotic atmosphere. With this picture Asisi fulfilled Humboldt's wish for a panorama picture that "shows nature in its wild opulence and abundance". The impressions of the flora and fauna of the rainforest were skillfully deepened in the accompanying exhibition. One could - again an anamorphosis - crawl into a tropical flower as an insect, be frightened by a giant model (60: 1) of a tropical mosquito or watch an ant in a film for over an hour at its exciting activity.

Leipzig 1813 - In the turmoil of the Battle of Nations

On the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig in 2013, there was no battle representation. Instead, from August 3, 2013 to September 20, 2015, an imaginary view after the battle from the roof of St. Thomas Church showed the suffering in the city and the burning villages in the surrounding area. This was intended to express the horrors of war for the soldiers and the civilian population.

Great Barrier Reef

From October 3, 2015 to January 15, 2017, the image of the Great Barrier Reef hung in the panometer , showing the beauty and diversity of the underwater world of this coral reef off Australia . An idealized natural space unfolded around an underwater position, which could not be experienced in this concentration on site. He showed corals , fish , sea ​​turtles , starfish , aquatic plants and marine mammals on the reef in bright colors with a general blue and green hue of the surrounding submarine world.

Titanic

Titanic

The 360 ​​° panorama depicted the situation after the sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912 and posed the question of how to control nature. The former splendor of the luxury liner is a field of rubble that is being recaptured by nature. The exhibition was shown from January 28, 2017 to January 15, 2019.

Carola's garden

The current panorama, which shows the garden of a former employee of the Panometer, has been on view since January 26, 2019. In addition to the model buildings created by the artist Yadegar Asisi, the exhibition shows eight oversized insects by the Hamburg designer Julia Stoess, who specializes in insect models .

Arena at the Panometer

Arena at the Panometer

The smaller Gasometer I mentioned above, built in 1885 under City Planning Director Hugo Licht , was also renovated on the initiative of Yadegar Asisi between 2009 and 2012. The building has a diameter of 44.8 m and a wall height of 14.4 m. The roof remained open even after the renovation. Asisi used it because of the elevated position on inner corridors to take photographs of personal scenes for his panorama picture of the Battle of the Nations.

It contains a meadow, is otherwise empty and open to the public. Since 2013 it has been used for two weeks a year as the “Arena am Panometer” for open-air events. Rock, pop or classical concerts as well as theater and cabaret events take place every evening in front of up to 500 spectators.

literature

  • Yadegar Asisi (Ed.): Rome CCCXII - The largest panorama in the world by Yadegar Asisi in the Panometer Leipzig with contributions by Rhoda Riccius, Wolfgang Schächen , Juliane Voigt and Karl-Wilhelm Weeber , catalog for the exhibition of the same name v. November 26, 2005 - February 1, 2009, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 978-3-00-018855-8
  • Yadegar Asisi, Marina Rütten (staff): Architect of illusions. Leipzig, Faber & Faber 2004 - ISBN 3-936618-43-7
  • Asisi Yadegar (eds.), Kathrin Frančik, Nico Blüthgen: Amazonia. Yadegar Asisi's magic picture of nature . Berlin, Asisi Visual Culture 2009
  • asisi edition: LEIPZIG 1813 - In the turmoil of the Battle of Nations; Magazine for the exhibition of the same name from August 3, 2013 to September 20, 2015; ISBN 978-3-00-044185-1
  • asisi edition: GREAT BARRIER REEF - Yadegar Asisi 360 ° panorama with contributions by Ben Cropp, Mirko Wölfling and Dr. Moshira Hassan; Magazine for the exhibition of the same name from October 3, 2015 to January 15, 2017; ISBN 978-3-945305-08-9
  • Stadtwerke Leipzig GmbH (Ed.): 100 years of electricity for Leipzig; Heidi Mühlenberg, 2nd edition, May 2002

Web links

Commons : Panometer Leipzig  - Collection of Images
Commons : Panoramas by Yadegar Asisi  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Horst Riedel: Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A - Z. PRO LEIPZIG, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-936508-03-8 , p. 452
  2. Gasometers and gas works in Germany
  3. a b c Past projects in the Leipzig Panometer. In: Asisi website. Accessed August 30, 2020 .
  4. Giant insects in the Leipzig Panometer , MDR from January 31, 2020, accessed June 18, 2020
  5. Arena at the Panometer

Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 51.5 ″  N , 12 ° 23 ′ 12.2 ″  E