Jerusalem 1839: The First Photograph and the Birth of Orientalism

In 1839, a French photographer named Frédéric Goupil-Fesquet hauled his bulky daguerreotype camera to Jerusalem, becoming the first person to capture the city on film. This episode unpacks that moment, which coincided with the arrival of the first modern European consuls and the rise of Orientalist painting. We explore how early photographs like Goupil-Fesquet's — and the paintings of David Roberts — fixed images of Jerusalem in the European imagination, often flattening its living complexity into biblical backdrop. We also look at the local responses, from Ottoman officials to Jerusalem's Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities, and ask how the camera's gaze shaped the city's future. Along the way, we encounter the competing claims of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the first Protestant bishopric, and the beginnings of archaeological exploration. It's a story about seeing and being seen, and how a single image can rewrite a city's identity.

#Jerusalem #History #FexingoHistory #PhotographyHistory #Daguerreotype #Orientalism #DavidRoberts #GoupilFesquet #1839 #OttomanEmpire #HolySepulchre #WesternWall #TempleMount #Consuls #ProtestantBishopric #Archaeology #MiddleEast #19thCentury

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