Jérusalem, Enceinte du Temple, Vue générale de la face Sud 1 1854 - 1859

This photograph of Jerusalem, showing the Temple Mount from the south, was made by Auguste Salzmann, likely in the 1850s. Salzmann employed the salted paper process, an early photographic technique. This involved coating paper with a salt solution, then silver nitrate, making it sensitive to light. A negative was placed on the prepared paper and exposed to sunlight. The resulting print has a soft, textured quality, quite different from later, sharper photographic processes. In this image, the salted paper emphasizes the rough texture of the ancient stones and muted tones, lending the scene a timeless quality. The photograph itself becomes an artifact, its own materiality contributing to our understanding of the scene. Salzmann's work sits at the intersection of science, art, and commerce, reflecting the evolving role of photography in the 19th century. Considering the materials and methods used, we can appreciate how photography, like other forms of making, has its own rich history and cultural significance.