Bourbaki Panorama

Bourbaki Panorama is a circular painting showing the internment of more than 60000 men of the French army at the end of the Franco-Prussian war. It was painted in 1876 by Edouard Castres who had volunteered as a medical assistant during the war. He had the help of 10 assistants, among them Ferdinand Hodler and Gustave Henri de Beaumont. After having shown the 14m high and 114m long painting in Geneva, Benjamin Henneberg transferred it to Lucerne in 1889.

Due to the increasing competition with movie theatres, Benjamin Henneberg sold the building and painting to Lucerne company Koch & Söhne in 1925. Koch & Söhne then installed Europe's first mechanical parking garage in it ! Using a turntable (which is still functional today), the almost round shape of the building was optimally used by requiring only one free space in order to get access to any parked car. Unfortunately, the painting was cut down in height during this time so that today, we can only see the bottom 10m, missing out on some of the original sky. Between 1996 and 2000, the building was completely transformed to plans by Werner Kreis and Ulrich and Peter Schaad and now is home, among others, to the painting, a movie theatre and Lucerne's library.

Architectural Landmarks in Lucerne - Museums Lake Lucerne