The Panorama Museum houses one of the largest circular panorama paintings in the world — a 360-degree depiction of the Russian defence of Sevastopol during the Crimean War, specifically the repulse of the Anglo-French assault on 6 June 1855. The painting was created by Franz Roubaud and originally exhibited in 1905 to mark the 50th anniversary of the siege.
The museum building is a circular rotunda on Istorichesky Boulevard, and the panorama wraps around the interior at eye level, with a detailed three-dimensional diorama in the foreground creating a seamless transition from real objects to painted canvas. It was heavily damaged during World War II and meticulously restored over many years. The painting shows the battle at its height — thousands of soldiers, smoke, artillery, naval ships in the bay below — and gives an extraordinary sense of the scale of 19th-century siege warfare.