Salle des gardes in het Kasteel van Fontainebleau c. 1875 - 1900

This photograph captures the ‘Salle des gardes’ or guard room in the Château de Fontainebleau. While the photographer is unknown, this image offers insight into 19th-century European aristocratic life. Fontainebleau was a royal residence from the 12th century, but the grand interior shown here reflects the tastes of the Renaissance and later periods. The guard room, with its elaborate carvings and imposing structure, was a space of masculine power, designed to intimidate as much as protect. Spaces such as these reinforced class divisions, dictating who had access and who was excluded. How might the guards have felt in this space, as they were surrounded by symbols of power that they would never possess themselves? The photograph itself becomes an artifact, capturing a moment in time and raising questions about representation, power, and the gaze. It invites us to reflect on the stories these walls could tell, about the lives of privilege and the silent witnesses within them.