International Panorama Council

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The International Panorama Council (IPC) is a global, non-governmental, non-profit organization governed under Swiss law. It unites museum directors, managers, artists, restorers and historians who study historical and contemporary panoramas and related media. Members come from around the world and include museum and research-institute representatives as well as private researchers and enthusiasts.

IPC started in 1992 as the European Panorama Conference in Szeged, Hungary. It was renamed in 1998 at the International Panorama Conference in Altötting, Germany, and since 2003 has been known as the International Panorama Council. It has been a Membership Association since 2010. The organization is run by a member-elected Executive Board, with a Secretary-general handling daily operations.

The council’s purpose is to stimulate global research and communication about panoramas and cycloramas, to help preserve important panorama heritage, and to promote professional networking. IPC connects the heritage era of panorama art with its contemporary and future forms, and it pursues international recognition and protection of panoramas by bodies such as UNESCO and the Council of Europe.

IPC actively supports the preservation of historical panoramas and cycloramas. It has campaigned to save endangered works, including efforts in Innsbruck (2007–2008) and protection of Panorama Mesdag. A key aim is to have major 19th-century panoramas listed by UNESCO. For example, the Waterloo Panorama was added to Belgium’s tentative UNESCO list in July 2008, and Panorama Mesdag was put forward by the Netherlands in February 2009.

The IPC works across restoration, research, financing, exhibiting and marketing of panoramas and related art forms—from the heritage era to contemporary and future manifestations. It maintains a database of panoramas, moving panoramas, large dioramas, semi-circle panoramas and other related media.

Since 1992, IPC has held annual conferences worldwide to facilitate professional exchanges, including meals and a post-conference visit to a panorama site. Conference proceedings cover topics from topographical mapping and restoration to conservation techniques.