Gouffre d'Enfer c. 1860 - 1880

This is a stereoscopic card of the Gouffre d'Enfer, or Hell's Pit, made by E. Soule. Produced as a piece of tourist ephemera, it speaks volumes about the changing relationship between people and the natural world in 19th-century France. With industrialization in full swing, nature became something to be consumed as a leisure activity; to be gazed at from specially constructed viewing platforms. The stereoscope itself, a popular form of entertainment at the time, encouraged a distanced, almost scientific view. The photograph is stripped of any human presence, reducing the landscape to a purely visual spectacle. The 'Gouffre d'Enfer', a dramatic gorge near Saint-Étienne, becomes less a place of awe and more a carefully framed commodity, ready for consumption. Understanding this image requires us to research the history of tourism, the rise of photography, and the changing attitudes towards nature in 19th-century France. It reminds us that even seemingly straightforward landscape images are embedded in complex social and cultural contexts.