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The object

The painting depicts the moment Swiss Confederates gained the upper hand against the Duchy of Burgundy during its 1476 invasion, a turning point in European history. Commissioned by a Swiss society specialized in public entertainment, the panorama was the main media of the end of the 19^th c. The artist, Louis Braun, was a famous painter of German military history. Braun and his team produced this work measuring 10 x 100 m in 1893. It was on display in Zurich, then Geneva (1894-1907), before falling in oblivion behind the new media of the cinema. Rediscovered in 1996, it was restored and put on a brief display for 4 months during Expo.02 (2002) in a monolith built by Jean Nouvel on the Murten lac. Since then, it remained rolled up in a Swiss Army deposit.

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The imaging process

For a full description see the making of the digital twin

In June, 2022, the panorama of the battle of Murten was transported to the EPFL Laboratory for Experimental Museology. The design of the custom-built inspection platform ran parallel to the first inspections and tests (August-December 2022). The conservation of the 3 rolls was performed parallel to the design and production of the scanning rig (January-June 2023). The scanning process took place between August and October 2023, after which the panorama was returned to its storage location. The post-processing of the image data and first tests took place in November – January 2024.

The imaging, provided by camera systems manufacturer, Phase One, took advantage of an iXH 150-megapixel camera with a 72mm lens specifically built for high-resolution digitization projects. The process took four months, capturing 27,000 images within and beyond the RGB (red, green, and blue) color spectrum. The challenges of producing an image of  1,6 terapixel with high color fidelity at a resolution of 1000 dots per inch are both physical and technical.

Physical challenges include capturing a flawless 2D picture despite irregularities on the canvas’s surface. The original canvas is also hyperboloid in shape, as it was intended to be installed vertically for display in a rotunda (spherical building/room). The painting has therefore been carefully ‘spooled’ across a substrate to ensure smooth image capture.

The challenges posed by the size, quality and high technological aspects of the digital twin are the subject of scientific research and experimentation during the imaging phase. They allow for scientific contributions in the fields of data science, conservation, and historic panoramas. It includes the use of block chain technologies, the post-processing of stitched images, and digital conservation. More information can be found on the publications related to the project.

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Augmentation of the panorama (2024-2026)

The scanning of the Battle of Murten Panorama canvas gives rise to a range of interpretation projects from ultra-high resolution streaming online, to highly significant situated experiences of the panorama akin to what the original experience would have been like but with the aid of spectacular software initiated interactive audio visual effects. From August 2025 to May 2027, a series of exhibitions at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Museum Murten, Bernisches Historisches Museum, Château de Grandson, and other international venues, invite the visitors to a multisensory immersive experience of the 19th-century panoramic painting.

Additional datasets

Next to the zooming and panning options available at an unprecedented resolution, additional content will be produced to enrich the digital twin. It will guide public access to and understanding of the artwork. These augmentations are superimposed on the original image. Additional datasets will include 3D models of objects, volumetric videos, and motion capture of scenes in the painting, situated within a historically informed soundscape based on research into Medieval chronicles, letters, narrative literature, and other archival documents that mention sound in battles. Research into the material culture evidenced in the panorama has identified dozens of related artifacts held in Swiss museums, such as costumes, weapons, or accessories. Synthetic smells diffused on experimental devices will allow the exploration of the fragrant environment of the battlefield.

Special project’s website

Launched the 22nd of June 2025, the website is key to transmit and deepen engagement with both the exhibitions and the 2026 Burgundian wars commemorations. The digital twin is displayed at the highest resolution supported by web browsers. The website features other content from the exhibition system version such as 3D models, volumetric videos of reenactors, and a 2D video of the installation being experienced live by visitors. The project database is made available through Linked Open Data related to the digital twin (links and metadata to images and text). It includes a selection of primary sources connected to both the history of the panorama and the context of the battle of Murten. This includes all the recently digitized preparatory drawings by Louis Braun and archives related to the production of the panorama, as well as an augmented edition using Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) standards of the collection of primary sources by Ochsenbein (1876). Enabled by semantic web technologies and IIIF manifest, data can now be curated down to the image region level. Additionally, this website launch a novel annotation tool that will support future storytelling for narrative rich paintings.

Visit the website

Exhibitions

Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF)
Dates: 1–10 November 2024
Venue: GIFF, Geneva
System: 5-metre wide back-projected screen
Context: group exhibition

Swiss Month, Hong Kong (Swiss Consulate in Hong Kong)
Dates: 09 –11 November 2024
Venue: Hong Kong Baptist University, Visualization Research Centre
System: 9-metre diameter, 360-degree interactive LED system
Context: standalone installation

Museum für Gestaltung
Dates: 29 August 2025 – 18 January 2026
Venue: Museum für Gestaltung, Ausstellungsstrasse, Zurich
System: 9-metre-wide, 120-degree interactive projection system
Context: group exhibition Museum of the Future —17 Digital Experiments  

Festival international du film d’archéologie de Nyon (FIFAN)
Dates: 2–7 September 2026
Venue: Nyon
System: 5-metre wide back-projected screen
Context: group exhibition

Swissnex San Francisco
Dates: November 2025
Venue: Swissnex, Pier 17, San Francisco, USA 
System: 6-metre diameter, 360-degree interactive Panoramic Navigator

Museum Murten
Dates: 14 February – 19 April 2026
Venue: Museum Murten, Murten
System: interactive projection mapping
Context: projection installation integrated into the Museum architecture

Bernisches Historisches Museum
Dates: 25 February 2026 – 9 May 2027
Venue: Bernisches Historisches Museum, Bern
System: 360-degree interactive projection system
Context: main installation in the exhibition The Battle of Murten. Staging a Victory

Castle of Grandson
Dates: September – November 2026
Venue: Castle of Grandson, Grandson
System: 6-metre diameter, 360-degree interactive Panoramic Navigator
Context: standalone installation in the exhibition Grandson – Morat 1476-2026

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Team

Lead: Prof. Sarah Kenderdine
Project manager & military historian: Dr. Daniel Jaquet 
Image specialist: Dr. Paul Bourke 
Conservation and scanning platform engineer: Nelissen Decorbouw 
PhD candidate: Raphael Tsz-Kin Chau
Researcher: Tonia Ramogida 
Science communicator: Dr. Marinella Sofia Gkinko 
Software engineers: Samy Mannane, Loïc Serafin, and Adriano Viegas Milani 

Acknowledgements

A research project of the EPFL Laboratory for Experimental Museology, in partnership with the Foundation for the Panorama of the Battle of Murten, custodian of the original painting.

Supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Loterie Romande, Municipality of Murten, Canton of Fribourg, Federal Office for Culture, Association of the Friends of the Panorama, Foundation Etrillard, Phase One, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Stiftung für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, UBS Culture Foundation, and Association Suisse pour l’Histoire et les Sciences Militaires.

Institutions contributing to the augmentation process 

3D scan of objects: Bernisches Historisches Museum (Bern History Museum, Bern, Switzerland) and Schweizerisches Landesmuseum (Swiss National Museum, Zürich, Switzerland)

3D reconstruction of costumes: Westphal College of Media Arts & Design of the University of Drexel, Philadelphia, United States (PI: Prof. Kathleen Martin)

Volumetric capture of reenactors: 4D Views, Grenoble, France (led by Dr. Daniel Jaquet)

Preparatory drawings of the panorama: Hällisch-Fränkischen Museum, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany; Einsiedeln Panorama, Einsiedeln, Switzerland and Murten Museum, Murten, Switzerland

Sound: Prof. Paul Doornbush (University of Melbourne)

Smell: Firmenich and ScentRealm

EPFL Press releases

EPFL lab to digitize 1,000m2 ‘Swiss national treasure’ (July 2022)

The Digitisation of the Panorama of Murten is about to start (April 2023)

The Panorama of the Battle of Murten becomes an immersive experience (June 2025)

Media coverage

Press review (last updated November 2023)

Gobbo, S. (2024, November 6). ‘La bataille de Morat, comme si vous y étiez; «On passe du tumulte de la bataille au son du pinceau»‘. Le Temps.

‘Le GIFF expose à Genève la version numérique du fameux panorama de la bataille de Morat‘. (2024, November 7). Radio Télévision Suisse.

24 heures : Le «Panorama de la bataille de Morat» devient la plus grande œuvre numérisée au monde; Exploit Le «Panorama de la bataille de Morat» numérisé par l’EPFL. (22 June 2025)

Rhône FM : Le Panorama de la Bataille de Morat comme expérience immersive (22 June 2025)

La Liberté : La bataille de Morat, comme si vous y étiez! (22 June 2025)

Freiburger Nachrichten : Schlachtpanorama lässt sich online sinnlich erleben (22 June 2025)

Zürichsee-Zeitung : Virtuelles Schlachtpanorama (23 June 2025)

Tages-Anzeiger : Virtuelles Schlachtpanorama (23 June 2025)

RTS La 1ère / La Matinale / Journal 6h / Journal 6h30 : Le panorama de la bataille de Morat numérisé par l’EPFL (8:00-8:44) (23 June 2025)

Der Landbote : Virtuelles Schlachtpanorama (23 June 2025)

Der Bund : Virtuelles Schlachtpanorama (23 June 2025)

Basler Zeitung : Virtuelles Schlachtpanorama (23 June 2025)

RTS La 1ère / Journal 10h / CQFD – Une expérience immersive de la Bataille de Morat (24 June 2025)

Solothurner Zeitung – Das Panorama der Murtenschlacht ist digitalisiert (24 June 2025)

swissinfo.ch – EPFL launches digitised version of Battle of Murten panorama (24 June 2025)

Publications about the project

Jaquet, D., & Kenderdine, S. (2020). ‘The Murten Panorama, from 2D to 4D’. International Panorama Council Journal 3: 102–9.

Jaquet, D. (2021). ‘Le Panorama de la bataille de Morat version 2.0‘. Annales Fribourgeoises 83(2): 49‑53.

Chau, TK., Bourke, P., Hibberd, L., Jaquet, D., & Kenderdine, S. (2024). ‘Cultural Big Data: Nineteenth to Twenty-first Century Panoramic Visualization’. Frontiers in Big Data: Data Mining and Management 7. DOI 10.3389/fdata.2024.1309887

Jaquet, D. & Kenderdine, S. (2024). ‘The Digitization of the Murten Panorama: Notes on the Creation of the World’s Largest Image’. Panoramic and Immersive Media Studies Yearbook 1. DOI: 10.1515/9783111335575-022

Deicher, P., Koller, G., & Jaquet, D. (trsl) (2024). ‘Historic Panoramas of the World: The Fascination of a Visual Mass Medium of the 19th and Early 20th Centuries.’ Lucerne: Bourbaki Panorama Museum.

Panoramic media and theory

Books

Kenderdine, S. (2013). Place-Hampi: Inhabiting the panoramic imaginary of Vijayanagara, Heidelberg: Kehrer Verlag.

Frank, I., Feneley, M., Kenderdine, S. & J. Shaw (2021), The Atlas of Maritime Buddhism. Hong Kong: City University Press.

Chapters

Kenderdine, S. (2021). ‘Experimental museology: Immersive visualization and cultural (big) data’, in (eds) M. Achiam, M. Haldrup and K. Drotner, Experimental Museology Institutions, Representations, Users.  Abingdon: Routledge: 15-34.

Kenderdine, S. (2020). ‘Omnidirectional Strategies for Exploring Ancient Cities and Territories’, in M. Forte & H. Murteira (eds.), Digital Cities: Between History and Archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 185-206.

Kenderdine, S. (2016). ‘Embodiment, entanglement and immersion in digital cultural heritage’ in S. Schreibman, R. Siemens & J. Unsworth (eds.), A New Companion to Digital Humanities. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 22–41.

Kenderdine, S. & J. Shaw. (2014) ‘A Cultural Heritage Panorama: Trajectories in Embodied Museography’, in H. Din and S. Wu (eds), Digital Heritage and Culture – Strategy and Implementation, Singapore: World Scientic Publishing Co: 197-218.

Kenderdine, S., Shaw, J. & T. Gremmler, T. (2012) ‘Cultural Data Sculpting: Omnidirectional Visualization for Cultural Datasets’, in F.T. Marchese and E/ Banissi (eds), Knowledge Visualization Currents: From Text to Art to Culture. London: Springer-Verlag: 199-221.

Kenderdine, S. (2007) ‘Speaking in Rama: Panoramic Vision in Cultural Heritage Visualisation’, in F. Cameron and S. Kenderdine (eds), Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage: A Critical Discourse. Cambridge: MIT Press: 301-332.

Kenderdine, S., J. Shaw, D. del Favero & N. Brown. (2007). ‘Place-Hampi: Co-Evolutionary Narrative and Augmented Stereographic Panoramas, Vijayanagara, India’, in (eds) Y. Kalay, T. Kvan and J. Affleck, New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage. Abingdon & Oxford: Routledge: 336-352.

Journals

Kenderdine, S. (2021). ‘Prosthetic architectures of the senses: museums and immersion’, in (eds) M. Beugnet & L. Hibberd, dossier: ‘Absorbed in Experience: new perspectives on immersive media’, Screen 61(4): 635-645. Kenderdine, S. & T. Hart. (2014). ‘mARChive: Sculpting Museum Victoria’s Collections’, Museums and the Web: Proceedings, 2-5 April 2014, Baltimore.

Kenderdine, S. & Lancaster, L. (2014). ‘Cultural Data Sculpting: The Tripitaka Koreana’, in Nhat Tur, Đuc Thien and Lancaster, L (eds), Proceedings of Buddhist Culture and Technology: New Strategies for Study, Ninh Binh: Vietnam Buddhist University.

Kenderdine, S. (2013). ‘Pure Land: Inhabiting the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang’, Curator: The Museum Journal 56(2): 199-118.

Kenderdine, S. & Hart, T. (2011) ‘Cultural Data Sculptin g: Omni-Spatial Visualization for Large Scale Heterogeneous Datasets’, in Museums and the Web 2011: Proceedings, Philadelphia, 6-9 April.

Kenderdine, S., Lancaster, L., Lan, H. & Gremmler, T. (2011). ‘Omnidirectional 3D Visualization for the Analysis of Large-Scale Textural Corpus: Tripitaka Koreana’, in Proceedings of The Second International Conference on Culture and Computing, Kyoto: IEEE, pp. 27-32.

Kenderdine, S. (2010). ‘PLACE-Hampi, Ancient Hampi and Hampi-LIVE: An Entanglement of People- Things’, in M. Forte (ed.), Cyber-Archaeology, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford: Bar Publishing, pp. 47-62.

Kenderdine, S., Shaw, J. & Kocsis, A. (2009). ‘Dramaturgies of PLACE: Evaluation, Embodiment and Performance in PLACE-Hampi’, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology, Athens: ACM, pp. 249-56. Kenderdine, S. (2008). ‘An entanglement of people-things: Place-Hampi’, International Journal of Digital Cultural Heritage and E-Tourism (IJDCE): .139-156.

Kenderdine, S. (2007). ‘The Irreducible Ensemble: Place-Hampi’, in Proceedings of Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM) 13th International Conference, Brisbane, in Revised Selected Papers Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 4820, Berlin: Springer, pp. 58-72.

Kenderdine, S. (2007). ‘Somatic Solidarity, Magical Realism and Animating Popular Gods: Place- Hampi “Where Intensities Are Felt”’, in Proceedings of the 11th European Information Visualisation Conference, Zürich: IEEE, pp. 402-408. Kenderdine, S. (2004). ‘Stereographic Panoramas of Angkor, Cambodia’, in Proceedings: Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM) 10th International Conference, Gifu: IOS Press, pp. 612-621.

Doornbusch, P. & Kenderdine, S. (2004). ‘Presence and Sound: Identifying Sonic Means to “Be There”’, in Proceedings of Consciousness Reframed, Beijing, pp. 67-70.