Atlanta Cyclorama Museum Closing, Painting To Be Moved

But the legendary artifact, a 128-year-old oil painting that depicts the Battle of Atlanta, will live on in the Atlanta History Center.

Of course, moving the 358-foot-long, 42-foot-high item won’t be easy.

“This is an unparalleled thing for us, but, hey, we’re up for this. We’re happy. It’s the best thing for the artifact, I think it’s the best thing for the city. It’s the best way to save this national treasure. This is such a great problem to have,” says Gordon Jones, a curator at the history center.

Two European teams are helping with the moving process. It will include constructing giant scrolls for the painting and then extracting it out of the building through a wall or the roof.

The oil painting, which hasn’t been moved since 1921, remains an important part of Atlanta’s past.

“It’s always been something that people look forward to coming to seeing, to experiencing. In the wake of ‘Gone With the Wind’ it took on new vitality because you know, it revitalized the story of the Atlanta campaign,” says Dr. Brian Wills, the director of the Civil War Center at Kennesaw State University.

Once the painting is moved, Jones says a 50-foot-tall section that was previously cut will be recreated and added.The History Center says the painting should be open to the public by 2017.