Entrée d'une caserne turque. C'est a cette porte que les pèlerins font les prières de la 1e Station. N'ayant pas la permission d'entrer dans la caserne 1860

Louis de Clercq captured this photograph of a Turkish barracks, a site noted for being where pilgrims stop to offer prayers. The most striking visual element here is the archway, a symbol deeply embedded in our collective consciousness. The arch, in its essence, represents transition, a gateway between one state and another. We find it echoed across cultures and epochs, from the triumphal arches of ancient Rome, celebrating victory and power, to the sacred arches framing religious icons in Byzantine mosaics. Here, in this stark, almost severe setting, the archway takes on a more contemplative tone. The act of passing beneath an archway, then, becomes a symbolic act of transformation, a crossing of thresholds. It's a visual metaphor for our deepest subconscious processes. Though this image is of a specific place and time, it evokes something timeless within us.