Murten Panorama
2024 Ongoing | Visualization Research Centre, HKBU
Project Overview
The Murten Panorama, an extensive 19th-century depiction of the Battle of Murten (1476), underwent a transformative digitization by EPFL, resulting in an unparalleled 1600-gigapixel image, the largest digital rendering of a single artwork. This 1000-square-meter painting was captured with a custom-built digitizer, utilizing a 150-megapixel camera to produce 127,000 individual shots, seamlessly compiled into a 9.6-terabyte image. To enhance viewer engagement, a custom image-tiling system was developed, allowing users to zoom in on intricate details without compromising quality, fostering a coherent narrative experience across each segment of the vast artwork.
Technical Narrative
The visualization operates through a networked visualization cluster, a synchronized computer array that maintains native resolution on the LED wall. Coordinated by a central server, this setup ensures real-time, high-resolution rendering across the 360-degree LED system. Users can zoom into minute details, such as brush strokes, discovering embedded narratives within the battle scene, augmented by volumetric video clips of martial arts to enrich storytelling.
An innovative olfactory component enhances the immersive experience: a custom neckband delivers 12 distinct aromas, from horse and leather to metal and sweat, synchronized with the viewer’s gaze via Bluetooth. This sensory layer brings historical realism to the exploration, making the Murten Panorama an exceptionally vivid, multi-sensory journey into the past.
第一部分：項目概述
《Murten全景畫》是一幅描繪1476年Murten戰役的19世紀巨幅畫作，經過瑞士聯邦理工學院（EPFL）的數位化處理後，成為史上最龐大的單件藝術品數位影像，達到1600億像素。這幅1000平方米的畫作是使用定製數位化設備拍攝的，該設備配備150百萬像素相機，共拍攝127,000張影像，最終拼接成一個9.6TB的無縫圖像。為了提升觀賞體驗，該項目開發了定製影像分割系統，使觀眾可以無損放大每個細節，同時在整體畫面中保持敘事連貫。
第二部分：技術敘述
此視覺化系統運行於一個聯網的視覺化集群，由多臺同步運作的計算機組成，確保在LED牆上呈現出原始的高解析度。透過中央伺服器的協調，該系統能夠在360度LED屏幕上實現即時、高畫質的渲染效果。用戶可以細緻地放大每個細節，例如畫筆的筆觸，從而發掘戰役場景中的隱藏敘事，並透過增強的3D武術場景影像進一步豐富敘事層次。
此項目還包含一個創新的氣味互動系統，為觀眾提供獨特的嗅覺體驗。定製的頸帶能根據觀眾的注視方向通過藍牙觸發十二種不同的氣味，包括馬匹、皮革、金屬、汗水和血液等，將歷史情境真實地呈現在觀眾眼前，帶來一場多感官的沉浸式歷史探索之旅。
Chief Investigators: Sarah KENDERDINE, Daniel JAQUET
Institution: The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Collaborated institution: HKBU
Date: 2023
Team: Daniel JAQUET (project manager & military historian), Paul BOURKE (image specialist), Nelissen DECORBOUW (conservation & scanning platform engineers), Raphael CHAU (PhD student in digital humanities), Tonia RAMOGIDA (researcher in digital humanities), eM+ software engineers: Samy MANNANE, Loic SUTTER, and Adriano Viegas MILANI alongside numerous other collaborators.
Hardware: nVis with 29.6 surround sound system, HTC Vive Tracker
Software: Unity 3D, Cubase, Maya
- GIFF (Geneva International Film Festival), Geneva
Dates: 1-10 November 2024
Venue: GIFF - Swiss Month, Hong Kong (Swiss Consulate in Hong Kong)
Dates: 09-11 November 2024
Venue: Hong Kong Baptist University, Visualization Research Centre - SwissNex, San Francisco
Dates: 30 July—30 August 2025
Venue: SwissNex - Museum für Gestaltung, The Museum of the Future
Dates:28 August 2024—18 January 2025
Venue: Museum für Gestaltung, Ausstellungsstrasse - Murten Museum
Dates: 12 January 2026—4 April 2026
Venue: Murten Museum, Murten - Bernisches Historisches Museum
Dates: February 2026—May 2027
Venue: Bernisches Historisches Museum, Bern
System: 360-degree interactive projection system
Context: main installation in exhibition - Castle of Grandson
Dates: 21 April—31 August 2026
Venue: Castle of Grandson, Grandson
Loterie romande
Municipality of Murten
Canton of Fribourg
The Federal Cultural Office
The Association des Amis du Panorama Morat-1476
Phase One.
SNSF. (2024, July 3). The Panorama of the Battle of Murten as you've never seen it before. Swiss National Science Foundation.
https://go.epfl.ch/42fa46
The Digitisation of the Panorama of Murten is about to start. (2023, April 25). EPFL News.
https://actu.epfl.ch/news/the-digitisation-of-the-panorama-of-murten-is-abou/
Luterbacher, C. (2022, July 21). EPFL lab to digitize 1,000m2 'Swiss national treasure'. EPFL News.
https://actu.epfl.ch/news/epfl-lab-to-digitize-1000m2-swiss-national-treas-3
Jaquet, D., & Kenderdine, S. (2020). ‘The Murten Panorama, from 2D to 4D’. International Panorama Council Journal 3: 102–9.
Jaquet, D. (2021). ‘Le Panorama de la bataille de Morat version 2.0‘. Annales Fribourgeoises 83(2): 4953.
Chau, R., Hibberd, L., Jaquet, D., & Kenderdine, S. (2024, in press). ‘Cultural Big Data: Nineteenth to Twenty-first Century Panoramic Visualization’. Frontiers in Digital Humanities.
Jaquet, D. & Kenderdine, S. (2024, in press). ‘The Digitization of the Murten Panorama: Notes on the Creation of the World’s Largest Image’. Panoramic and Immersive Media Studies Yearbook 1.
Serenko, I. (2024). Augmenting the Panorama of the Battle of Murten with 3D models of cultural artifacts (Doctoral dissertation, EPFL).
The Swiss National Science Foundation
Stiftung für das Panorama der Schlacht bei Murten (1476)
Laboratory for Experimental Museology, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
The Innovation and Technology Fund, HKSAR
