Around 1800, the panorama was established as a neologism as well as an entertainment and mass medium. Originating at the interface of painting, architecture and geometry, it soon entered into alliances with the new technical image media, photography and film. Panoramic vision manifested itself as a desire for total visual access - an aspiration that was always doomed to failure. With the industrialization of movement, seeing also became mobile. The steam engine not only changed the speed of locomotion, but also perception and image production. It gave rise to the straight line, calculable distances and a new understanding of space and time, which had a profound impact on traditional notions of landscape and the environment. A rail network was created along existing routes, connecting regions more efficiently and at the same time opening up unprecedented spaces of perception. These transformations are reflected in the artifacts in the exhibition. The lecture examines the transformation of visual culture using the example of the Palatinate Ludwigsbahn, the second oldest railroad line in Germany, and asks how it opened up the Palatinate visually. The focus is on the railroad panoramas of the British graphic artist George Cooke Lambert, who was active in southwest Germany in the 1840s. The exhibited folding panorama illustrates the mechanization of seeing: the movement of the travellers on the rails cutting through the landscape becomes an experience in itself; the straight line in turn becomes the defining design principle. The horizontality experienced in the railroad journey opens up new ways of perceiving time and space.

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