Pleorama
The best-known pleorama was a 19th-century moving panorama entertainment where the viewers sat in a rocking boat while panoramic views on painted canvas rolled past. The word has sometimes been used for other entertainments or innovations.
Architect
Carl Wilhelm Gropius, who had a diorama exhibit in Berlin, took over management of this pleorama in 1832, and there was also a pleorama of a journey along the river Rhine.
The Swiss writer Bernard Comment, among others, has pointed out the similarities between Langhans' pleorama and the ambitious mareorama at the 1900 Paris Exhibition.
A similar idea was used for a
In 1850s Finland the name pleorama was given to shows which presented historic scenes and panoramic views using glass, but posters for these do not mention anything resembling Langhans' boat concept.[1]
Etymology
The name pleorama was coined from Greek elements. Like other 19th century novelties ending in -orama - diorama and cyclorama, for instance - the second half of the word has the sense of 'something seen'. The pleo- part here is understood to come from a Greek word meaning 'float' which applies to Langhans' boat in water idea. Pleorama is also the 21st century name of an innovative "floating house".
See also
References
- Comment, Bernard (2004). The Panorama. Reaktion Books. p. 272. ISBN 1861891237.
- Stefan Simon, "Fern-Sehen" und "Fern-Hören" (in German)
- Theatre Images and Music
- Moving Panoramas
- Oxford English Dictionary
- Etymology website page on Pleo-
Further reading
- C.F.Langhans, Pleorama erfunden und aufgestellt; (Erläuterungen der in dem Pleorama erscheinenden Gegenstände von August Kopisch), 80 pages (Breslau; Eduard Philipp, 1831)
- (In English: Pleorama devised and arranged; Explanations of August Kopisch's artefacts appearing in the pleorama)