BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER
Gettysburg Times Staff Writer
Condensation is dripping onto “minimal areas” of the historic painting, which Congress recently spent $16 million to restore.
Gettysburg National Military Park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon described the problem as a “short-term” issue.
“There is no leak in the roof of the Cyclorama painting gallery,” said Lawhon. “We have minor amounts of condensation that occasionally form on the inside of the ceiling…at certain times of the year,” said Lawhon, adding that “we are working aggressively to research a solution.”
While Lawhon did not use the term “leak,” the word appeared in Dec. 22 minutes from the park’s “Division Chief Meeting.”
“There is a leak problem with the Cyclorama roof,” the report stated. “This problem needs to be fixed.”
The report continues: “The roof is a tongue-and-groove type that expands and contracts. There is an air leak which is causing condensation.”
To repair the roof, the report stated, the park “would probably be looking at shutting down the (Cyclorama) program for two-three months.”
Lawhon was unable to indicate if or when the park plans to shut down the gallery.
Ironically, one of the main reasons the park moved the 124-year-old painting out of the old Cyclorama complex in Ziegler’s Grove and built a new facility was because of roof leaks. A combination of the leaks, fire, flood damage and improper storage damaged the painting over the years.
The park hired a Virginia-based conservator, and restored the painting over a five-year period. It reopened in the new Battlefield Visitor Center in 2008 along the Baltimore Pike.
Lawhon explained that “some drops of water have hit the painting in the sky,” which is a new infill area “and not part of the historic canvas.”
Overall, the painting measures 377-feet long, and 42 feet high. Crews recreated 14 feet of “sky” and 16 feet of vertical imagery in a $16 million renovation project that ended in 2008. Congress financed the entire project.
Lawhon said engineers are looking at the insulation that has been “installed between the ceiling and roof at the expansion joints.” The park is “carefully monitoring the situation.”
Once a solution is found, conservators will address the “minimal areas in the sky” that have been damaged by the water.
The relative humidity level in the Cyclorama painting gallery, according to officials, has also been lowered by 40 percent.