Not many people know about the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. One of the famous stories to come out at that time was Switzerland’s humanitarian act of providing refuge for General Bourbaki’s French Army from being captured by the Prussians. The Swiss and French are proud of each other’s relationship to one another.

Edouard Castries with a team of artists completed this panorama back in 1880. Housed first in Geneva, it was transferred to Lucerne back in 1889. In 1997 the people of Lucerne by eighty percent vote past legislation to build the current center for 27 million francs. The panorama reminds me of the Cyclorama at Gettysburg National park.

The Panorama building actually serves to function as a retail center, a library and even for the cinema. We were surprised to even see a restaurant and barber shop located in the dome’s center.

There are actually two levels of the Panorama. The first level is a video/slide presentation. There are also several artifacts of the campaign like General Bourbaki’s sword. Somehow we could never get out of the German language showing. We were not too impressed with this level.

The actual Panorama in the upper level is spectacular. It is designed as a 3-D presentation with life-size figures in front of the actual painting. We could feel us being transformed back to 1871.

Visiting Bourbaki Panorama is something we would normally not do. Having the Swiss Travel pass gave us the opportunity to see this wonderful piece of Swiss/French history. The painting is impressive.

Not far away is the majestic cliff carving of the “Lion of Lucerne,” which is a “must do” activity. You have not seen Lucerne until you see the “Lion of Lucerne.”

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