(May 2006) GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Excavation for the foundation of the long-awaited museum and visitor center at Gettysburg National Military Park was expected to get under way in late April.

But a spokesman for the nonprofit foundation that is building the complex off Hunt Avenue said the scheduled opening has been delayed several months and is now expected in spring 2008.

"Part of it is, you don't get a permit when you plan to get a permit," said Elliot Gruber, vice president for external affairs at the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation. "The timing slips."

Gruber said the foundation had awaited one final OK from state environmental officials. He also pointed to delays resulting from a radical alteration of the restoration plan for the huge Cyclorama circular painting that will be hung in the new building.

The 139,000-square-foot facility will be a single structure from the inside that from the outside will look like several farmlike buildings.

Gruber said that from the main lobby visitors will access the museum, Cyclorama, theater, education center, retail area and restaurant, all on the main floor. The second level will house offices. On the lower level, also above ground, archival space and storage areas, operations spaces for the retail and food services and the research library will be located.

Special arrangements are being made to accommodate groups and buses. They will have a separate entrance, a bus pathway, plenty of parking space, picnic areas and a drivers' lounge.

Building of the new facility is being overseen by Kinsley Construction, the large, York-based contracting business of Robert Kinsley, who is chairman of the museum board.

When the park was seeking bids for the project in the 1990s, Kinsley actually won the job. But Gruber said Kinsley had decided to contract out all aspects of the work, and his company is serving instead as construction supervisor.

"It reduces the appearance that the chairman is building it," explained Gruber. He noted that Kinsley Construction is not receiving a profit for the work and is conducting the oversight at cost, "well within normal hourly rates."

"He's not looking to make money off this," said Gruber. "He wants a quality project. He's passionate and believes that so strongly."

Aspects of the job undertaken by Kinsley Construction include advertising for and awarding bids, administering contracts and supervising actual construction. According to park spokesman Katie Lawhon, a Kinsley construction supervisor on site works directly with all subcontractors.

The delay over the Cyclorama painting reflects new thinking on the part of conservators. They had planned to hang the aging canvas on a solid curved backing that would mimic the natural curvature of the painting when it was hung from large brass rings and rods.

Gruber said after significant testing and a chief conservator going overseas to study other historic cyclorama paintings, they decided to attach the painting to new canvas and then suspend it, allowing the new fabric to carry the weight. Restoration of the painting's panels will begin in earnest in May, he said.

Gruber said that fundraising is going well with more than $80 million committed. Details will be in a fundraising report being prepared for the National Park Service. Foundation representatives continue to talk to interested individuals, foundations and corporations across the country, he said.

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