Egyptian Mirage

A database of 19th-century "studio photographs" of Egypt,
mainly in the collection of the Griffith Institute, Oxford

Concept and direction: Jaromir Malek
Web page design: Jonathan Moffett
Cataloguing: Elizabeth Fleming and Jaromir Malek
Scanning: Kent Rawlinson
Editing: Elizabeth Fleming, Kent Rawlinson, Jaromir Malek

Copyright © Griffith Institute, Oxford OX1 2LG, 2001-7

 


The Griffith Institute in Oxford has one of the largest collections of 19th-century "studio photographs" of Egypt. They were taken by professional photographers who had their studios in the major tourist centres of Egypt such as Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said, Luxor and Aswan between about 1860 and 1890. The photographs show ancient Egyptian, Christian and Islamic monuments, as well as scenes of contemporary 19th-century life.

The purpose of this database is twofold:

  • To make a large and important body of photographic evidence available for study to Egyptologists and other scholars and interested persons.
  • To provide an easy-to-consult corpus of 19th-century photographs of Egypt which will help in the study and preservation of other photographs of this type elsewhere.

There are four possible ways of approaching these photographs. You can go to:

We shall be very grateful for any corrections or additional information (contact details).

(December 17, 2006)

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