Toren van de Sint-Bonifatiuskerk te Vries 1898

This photograph of the tower of Sint-Bonifatiuskerk in Vries was made by an anonymous photographer working for Monumentenzorg, or Dutch National Heritage, most likely in the late 19th or early 20th century. The albumen print process, with its matte surface and subtle tonal range, would have been considered a cutting-edge technology at the time. What's fascinating here is that the image is both a work of art and a form of documentation. The photographer must have been intimately familiar with the chemical processes involved in developing the image, controlling variables like exposure time and temperature to achieve the desired effect. The print bears witness to a building constructed from stone, a material that has been valued as a reliable architectural building block. This photographic print also bears witness to the cultural value of the tower as a heritage object in the Netherlands. It reminds us that any object, whether a photograph or a stone tower, is the result of human labor. When we consider the tower, its image, and their cultural significance, we begin to move beyond traditional distinctions between art and craft.