Looppad langs de Gorges du Trient c. 1860 - 1880

This photograph by Ernest Eléonor Pierre Lamy captures the Gorges du Trient, highlighting a man-made path navigating the harshness of nature. The bridge, a symbol of overcoming natural obstacles, is a recurring image in the history of art. We see it in Chinese landscape paintings where a bridge often represents a connection between the earthly and spiritual realms. Consider the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, initially built for defense but later populated with shops, symbolizing the bridge as a place of commerce and community, a far cry from the sublime solitude found here. The bridge here evokes the ancient motif of the axis mundi, a symbolic connection between heaven and earth. By constructing these crossings, humanity asserts its dominion over nature, a deep psychological desire to control the uncontrollable. This desire manifests not just in physical structures, but in our collective memory. The image is a silent echo of mankind's ongoing dialogue with the natural world.