Panoramas: the World in 360° Exhibition

Two hundred years ago the first virtual-reality experiences were born in Edinburgh, not from digital technologies, but from the mastery of painted perspective, the control of space and light, and an understanding of the psychology of human perception. Robert Barker’s Panorama rotunda in London’s Leicester Square created a sensation in…

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Detail from Robert and Henry Aston Barker’s Panorama of Edinburgh from Calton Hill, 1788, aquatint, hand-coloured, 1792
University of Edinburgh, Heritage Collections
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Event details

10am - 6pm Monday to Saturday
3rd May - 28th September
Free
The library is situated on the south side of George Square. Wheelchair access is by the ramp to the main door. Disabled parking spaces are available at the front of the building and are accessed by the west side (closest to the Meadows). All floors have 2 accessible toilets: one left hand transfer and one right hand transfer and can be reached by lift.

Two hundred years ago the first virtual-reality experiences were born in Edinburgh, not from digital technologies, but from the mastery of painted perspective, the control of space and light, and an understanding of the psychology of human perception. Robert Barker’s Panorama rotunda in London’s Leicester Square created a sensation in the early 1790s. This exhibition explores the panorama’s history and gives you a chance to taste the experience of its very first visitors.

Detail from a cross section of the Panorama building, Leicester Square, London from Robert Mitchell, Plans, And Views In Perspective, With Descriptions, Of Buildings Erected In England And Scotland, (London, 1801)
Organiser

The University of Edinburgh

The Heritage Collections teams preserve, provide access to and interpret the heritage collections looked after by the University of Edinburgh.

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Themes
City of Ideas Pictograph
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