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