Buckhead’s Atlanta History Center has received a statewide award from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation for its work on the “Battle of Atlanta” Cyclorama painting.

The painting, a 360-degree, oil-on-canvas depiction of the Battle of Atlanta during the Civil War, was completed in 1886 and was formerly on display in Grant Park. A team of art conservators examined and prepared the painting for the move. It was then rolled onto two scrolls and moved by cranes and flatbed semi-trailers to the new Lloyd and Mary Ann Whitaker Cyclorama Building at the History Center at 130 West Paces Ferry Road.

Atlanta's Cyclorama
A painting conservator works on the “Battle of Atlanta” Cyclorama painting at Buckhead’s Atlanta History Center in 2018. (File)

Many months of conservation and restoration work followed, and the conserved painting and its restored diorama opened to the public in February 2019.

The Georgia Trust honored the work with one of its “Excellence in Restoration Award.”

While the History Center remains closed by the coronavirus pandemic, selections from the Cyclorama exhibit and related supplemental materials are available on the “Museum from Home” webpage.

–John Ruch contributed

Collin Kelley has been the editor of Atlanta Intown for two decades and has been a journalist and freelance writer for 35 years. He’s also an award-winning poet and novelist.