Jérusalem, Enceinte du Temple, Porte hérodienne

Imprimerie photographique de Blanquart-Évrard, à Lille|Auguste Salzmann

1854 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

Tucked into a corner, Salzmann’s camera captures a small portion of Jerusalem’s layered walls. At right, a pediment is interrupted by the neighboring wall, while the outline of a pointed arch is visible in the lower left. With these architectural forms, Salzmann theorized that there survived portions of the temple built by Herod the Great in the first century b.c. and destroyed by Roman forces in a.d. 70. The identification was a radical departure from French archaeological tradition and transformed anonymous fragments into material evidence of the biblical era.

Artist

Imprimerie photographique de Blanquart-Évrard, à Lille|Auguste Salzmann

Date

1854

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005