Les cariatides du Ramesseum 134
1874
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1874
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see two tall stone figures standing in the ruins of an ancient temple. These aren’t statues of gods—they’re columns carved to look like people, called caryatids. The Abdullah Frères photographed them in Egypt, but their studio was in Istanbul. They were among the first to document these ruins with a camera, not just a sketchbook. Look up the subject of turkey to see more early photographs of the Ottoman world.
