A present from the Film Museum for all cinema fans on St. Nicholas Day. From the 6th of December we are again able to enjoy the beauty of the historical, perfectly renovated photoplasticon!

On December 6th we opened the renovated photoplasticon! Official opening started with the film documenting the renovation works in the Renowa studio of Karol Brzeziński. After the screening, Karol Brzeziński spoke in more detail about the stages of the work on such a unique historical object, its manufacturing quality, and reasonable suspicions that our photoplasticon was one of the first devices manufactured by August Fuhrmann! The President of the Łódź Infrastructure Company that supported the renovation, Radosław Łuczak, also took the floor, as well as the Director of the Department of Culture in the City of Łódź Office – Dagmara Śmigielska.  After the official ribbon-cutting, we could sit down at the eyepieces and watch unique snapshots of…. the film Łódź!

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The Kaiser-Panorama, also known as the photoplasticon, is a unique pearl among the 50 thousand items in the collection of the Film Museum in Łódź. It is a true technological masterpiece.

It was constructed by August Fuhrmann. His invention from 1880 was the child of its times – the age of science and technology – just like the phone (1876), phonograph (1878), electric bulb (1879). The Łódź photoplasticon developed around 1900 is the only original item in Poland, and according to the Fuhrmann Association – one of the six machines preserved in the world.

Fuhrmann was aware that his unique invention would encourage others to copy his idea. Thus, each device was labelled before being dispatched to its buyers: a tag was fixed nearby position number 1, covering information about who, where and when developed the device we are using

The renovated photoplasticon can be used by 25 people at the same time. they will be able to sit on numbered seats and, without changing their positions, watch moving, 3D images through glasses. A bell will ring after we have seen the whole set of 25 pictures.

Kaiser – Panorama arrived in Łódź from Kielce in 1976. First, it found its way to the Film Culture Department of the Museum of the City of Łódź, where it starred among others in the iconic film debut of Juliusz Machulski titled “Vabank”.

When the Film Museum was established in 1986, and seated in the former palace of the “cotton king”, Karol Wilhelm Scheibler, the photoplasticon took a place of honour in the factory owner’s palace and it still continues to be a gem of the whole collection. Kaiser-Panorama is a fixed item of visiting tours not only around the Museum, but also the whole Łódź.

The historical object was reconstructed by the company Renowa K.B. Renowacja i Pielęgnacja Obiektów Dziedzictwa Historycznego Karol Brzeziński.

“Wherever possible, we’ve restored original parts and historical design of this magnificent machine. A bell rings after each full rotation, that is after the viewers have seen the whole set of 25 3D images. The photoplasticon will work flawlessly for at least 200 years”, stresses Karol Brzeziński, the company owner.

The renovation of the photoplasticon was possible thanks to a donation by the Łódź Infrastructure Company.

We would like to thank: President Radosław Łuczak and Wice-President Krzysztof Kacprzak from the Łódź Infrastructure Company, Karol Brzeziński – owner of K.B. Renowacja i Pielęgnacja Obiektów Dziedzictwa Historycznego, Andrzej Rapacki, Urszula Witkowska from Sight Correction Centre, Pawel Tryzno and Mariusz Pietruszka from the Book Art Museum, Marek Szyryk, Piotr Tomczyk and Janusz Tyman.