The 15,000-square-foot painting, known as the Atlanta Cyclorama, depicts vivid scenes of the famous July 22, 1864, battle. Viewing the entire 42-foot-tall, 358-foot-wide painting requires a 360-degree viewing experience.

Workers loaded the 6-ton painting onto a flatbed truck to transport it 9 miles from its previous home, at the Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum, to the Atlanta History Centre. The workers cut the painting into two pieces, rolled the pieces onto two very large custom-built steel spools, and then reassembled the panorama after delivery.

Milwaukee's American Panorama company created the painting out of clay and wood in 1885-1886 and then sent the painting to a few venues around the country, for public display. The painting arrived in Atlanta in 1898 and had been relatively out of sight for some time, being stored in a corner of Atlanta's city zoo. A 1979 renovation added plastic and fibreglass.