Behalt is a cyclorama painted by Heinz Gaugel in the late 20th century. The name comes from the German word behalten: to hold onto or to remember. The work illustrates the heritage of the Amish and Mennonite people from the beginnings of Christianity and is displayed in the Amish and Mennonite Heritage Center in Berlin, Holmes County, Ohio. The Columbus Dispatch said it was the "Sistine Chapel of the Amish and Mennonites". One of four existing cycloramas in the US and one of only 16 in the world, Behalt is the only existing cyclorama painted by a single artist.
Anabaptist scholar Susan Biesecker-Mast calls it "an effort to exceed the tourist economy of Holmes County by offering a transformative rhetoric for its visitors." She relates the narrative of the mural's creation as a venture by area religious leaders to retain control of the telling of their own story.
Creation
In 1978, tourism in heavily-Amish eastern Holmes County had become more and more disruptive to the daily lives of residents, and an Amish blacksmith remarked to Gaugel that he wished there were some place tourists go could to learn why the Plain sects lived the way they do. Gaugel decided to create the cyclorama as an educational instrument. He researched the history of the Anabaptist movement and recruited a team of historians to ensure historical accuracy. He viewed the mural as a piece of historical rather than religious artwork.
The painting was created over 14 years. Gaugel began working in 1978; by 1990 all scenes were complete and the mural installed in its space. Detail work and retouching took another two years and were finished in 1992. Until it was installed, Gaugel had not seen his achievement in its entirety.
Funding and ownership
In June 1979 a local Mennonite, Helen F. Smucker, offered funding for a studio, materials, and a display facility for the finished work in exchange for a share in ownership of the painting. Gaugel's first studio was in Old Dunkard Church in Bunker Hill, Ohio. Smucker died later that year, and a group of investors bought out her share and decided to build a display facility on the Amish Farm, one of the earliest tourist-oriented businesses in the area. Area ministers were concerned that, after Smucker's death, having no Mennonites involved in the project might affect the final finished result. According to Biesecker-Mast, the idea that their story would be told by non-members of the community and displayed for profit was "more than some religious leaders in the community could stand." They formed a committee to develop a Mennonite Information Center; the main agenda item at their first meeting was concern about the painting being purchased by someone who wanted to use it in a business venture.
When Gaugel told the investors he would need five more years to complete the painting, they sued him for breach of contract, and in 1980, the unfinished painting was seized by the Holmes County Sheriff "for safekeeping." In early summer 1981 Gaugel's former studio was opened to the public as the Mennonite Information Center. The painting was returned to Gaugel later that year, but a lawsuit required he change its name and move it out of state. In 1984 the group of investors offered their share of the mural to the Center. In 1986 a lien against the painting caused the work to be seized again, this time in Pennsylvania. In 1988 the Mennonite Information Center finally signed a purchase agreement, but the board struggled to purchase land and build a facility. In 1989, a group of Mennonite business leaders succeeded in their offer to purchase the painting and build a display facility. In 1990 the facility opened with the mural on display while Gaugel continued his work on it.
Description
The cyclorama follows the development of the early Christian church, the acceptance of the Christian church by the Roman Empire under Constantine, and the early evolution of the Roman Catholic Church. It then moves to the Reformation and narrows its focus to 400-year history of the Radical Reformation and the Anabaptists. The remainder of the painting demonstrates how the Amish, Mennonite, and Hutterite movements grew, moved and developed from the Anabaptist beginning in 1525 in Zurich, Switzerland, their persecutions and their emigrations.
It ends with the disappearance of Mennonite missionaries during the Vietnam War. The mural portrays over 1200 people, representing Amish, Mennonite, Hutterites, and other Anabaptist groups. In 2019 an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 people from many countries viewed it.