International Panorama Council


The International Panorama Council is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization, subject to Swiss law. It is a global network involving museum directors, managers, artists, restorers and historians who deal with the historical or the contemporary art and media forms of the panorama. The organization comprises members from all over the world who are either representatives of museums and research institutes or private researchers and enthusiasts.
The organization was founded in 1992 as the European Panorama Conference in Szeged/Hungary and renamed in 1998 at Altoetting/Germany the International Panorama Conference. Since 2003 the organization is called International Panorama Council. IPC has been a Membership Association since 2010. It is governed by a member-elected Executive Board whose Secretary-General acts as the operational center for the Board’s members.

Main goals

The purpose of the International Panorama Council is to stimulate worldwide research and communication about existing and future panoramas and cycloramas, advocate for and help preserve the few surviving heritage panoramas, and promote professional affiliation. IPC serves as a bridge connecting the heritage era of the panorama art form to its contemporary and future manifestations, and strives to facilitate the formal international recognition and protection of panoramas by organizations like UNESCO and the Council of Europe.
The International Panorama Council actively supports the preservation of historical panoramas and cycloramas. In 2007 and 2008 it started a lobbying campaign to save the endangered panorama painting and building in Innsbruck, Austria.
An initiative was taken to support the protection of the endangered Panorama Mesdag.
A further goal of the IPC is to have the most important historical panoramas from 19c. enrolled as UNESCO World Heritage sites. A first step has been taken in July 2008 when the Waterloo Panorama was added to Belgium's tentative proposal for the UNESCO list. In February 2009 Panorama Mesdag applied for inclusion in the tentative list of the Netherlands.

Activities

IPC is active in the fields of restoration, research, financing, exhibiting and marketing of panoramas and related art forms from the heritage era to its contemporary and future manifestations. IPC maintains a database of existing panoramas/cycloramas, Moving panoramas, large-scale dioramas and semi-circle panoramas and many other related art and media forms.

Annual conferences

Since 1992 the International Panorama Council has held annual conferences throughout the world. The conferences are planned to provide a meaningful, professional exchange of ideas with lunches and dinners included, and a joint post-conference excursion to a panorama related site. Presentations in the conference proceedings range from illustrated essays on topographical mapping to restoration and conservation techniques.