On our last day in Lucerne, we made sure to see the Bourbaki Panorama. It’s a blend of art and history, presented in a way that made me feel like I was inside one of those View-Masters scenes from my childhood, those binocular-like lenses showing slides of 3D images. Kinda cool.

I found the juxtaposition of the sleek, modern building housing such an old, immersive art installation charmingly quirky.

I’ve tried to capture the beauty of the piece, but photos just don’t do it justice. The installment is in a huge rotunda. The visitor’s platform is raised, accessible via steps (and somewhere an elevator) and the entire panoramic canvas—paired with 3D elements in the foreground—creates a surreal space. Surrounded by “snow” with life-sized props of women and children helping wounded men, along with the hush of the rotunda felt eerily real. I practically shivered from the cold, vast winter scene. It was as if, the best one can manage from a distance of more than 150 years, I was there. The still, silent room evoked the same dead-quiet cold space I’ve experienced in Tahoe when the falling snow silences the world. Ron and I lingered a while to take it all in.

Can you tell from my pictures what’s painted and what’s real? One of the railway cars is actually real. Mannequins crouch near small fires, horse prints appear freshly pressed into snow. The line between art and reality blurs.