Ingang naar de Luxortempel before 1862

This albumen print of the entrance to Luxor Temple was taken by Francis Frith. Frith was part of a wave of 19th-century European photographers who traveled to the Middle East, framing its ancient monuments through a colonial lens. The photograph captures the grandeur of the temple, with its massive stone walls and statuary, but also hints at the encroachment of modernity, showing local inhabitants near the ruins. Frith’s work was made for a European audience eager for exotic scenes, thereby fueling an orientalist fantasy about the region. His photographs were often staged, carefully composing scenes that reinforced Western notions of the East as timeless and unchanging. This image, while presenting a seemingly objective view of the site, is thus deeply embedded in the power dynamics of its time. It invites us to reflect on how photography can both reveal and conceal the complex layers of history and identity.