The Vicksburg Riverfront Murals that began covering the walls of City Front in 2002 are getting a more universal display in welcome centers across Mississippi.

The 19 completed murals, painted by Louisiana artist Robert Dafford, are being shown up close through still pictures compiled into a 15-minute video presentation.

Nellie Caldwell, chairman of the committee that heads the mural project, said a personal friend made a digital video disk for her about three weeks ago.

Stanley Swartzel, who attends church with Caldwell, said he was inspired to make the video as a gift.

&#8220Nellie is a good friend and she took so much energy to get it started,” he said of the project that depicts historical scenes of Vicksburg. &#8220If she had stopped, it probably never would have been done. And I think the murals are a great asset to our downtown.”

Swartzel said he &#8220threw the thing together” one Saturday by going to the floodwall and taking photos of the 19 murals. He used a computer to crop, enlarge and zoom in on different parts of the images and set the show to music.

&#8220It’s beautiful,” Caldwell said.

A week after receiving the video, she took a copy to Mississippi Welcome Center supervisor Elmerree Bradley, who encouraged her to contact Mississippi Welcome Center bureau manager Tonya Neely.

Neely’s letter approving the DVD for all welcome centers was dated Thursday.

&#8220It’s so neat and hopefully it will bring some visitors,” Caldwell said.

The video, which shows in detail the realistic depictions Dafford painted of Vicksburg’s history, will be shown continually at each welcome center throughout the state.

&#8220The murals are so realistic and tell the history of our city,” Caldwell said.

She and her committee are hoping to continue to garner attention for the murals from visitors across the state and the nation. She said she believes the DVD will be a way to encourage people to visit Vicksburg.

&#8220I’m hoping it will interest the people enough that they’ll want to come. And once they come here they can see all the other stuff we have,” she said.

Swartzel said he, too, hopes the DVD will bring more visitors to the floodwall.

&#8220I am highly impressed with Robert Dafford’s ability,” he said. &#8220His details are striking.”

Dafford and his team, who have painted murals in towns along the Mississippi River as well as in other countries, have completed 14 murals on the south floodwall and five on the north floodwall of City Front. He and his crew will return in the fall to begin painting two more of the 13 planned historical murals that will complete the north floodwall over the next few years.

The Riverfront Mural Committee was created after Dafford’s work was seen on a similar floodwall in Kentucky. Almost all of the murals to date, costing $15,000 each, have been funded with private donations.