Gezicht op Heidelberg c. 1860 - 1880

This stereo card portraying a ‘View of Heidelberg’ was produced by L. Meder's Kunstverlag, a German art publisher. Stereo cards like this one were a popular form of entertainment in the late 19th century. When viewed through a stereoscope, two nearly identical images mounted side-by-side create the illusion of a single three-dimensional image. By the late 19th century Heidelberg was already well-established as a tourist destination. Images such as this one, mass-produced and sold as souvenirs, served as memory aids for tourists or allowed those who could not travel to experience vicariously the beauty of Heidelberg and its famous castle. The commercialization of Heidelberg's image also reflects broader shifts in the social and economic landscape of Europe at this time. With the rise of industrialization and a growing middle class, tourism became more accessible, and institutions like museums and art publishers catered to this new market. To understand this image better, we can consult archives and collections of photographs and printed ephemera from the period to understand better this artwork's social and institutional context.