Interieur van de Abdij van Grimbergen before 1900

L. Stainier created this photographic print of the interior of Grimbergen Abbey. This image, nestled within the pages of a photography journal, speaks to the burgeoning interest in capturing architectural spaces through the relatively new medium of photography. At the time this journal was circulating, photography was straddling the line between documentation and art, as seen through the writings on photographic techniques included in the text. The Abbey, a site of religious and cultural significance, is rendered in a way that emphasizes its grandeur and symmetry. However, the choice to photograph such a space also intersects with questions of access and representation. Who had the ability to enter and document such spaces? Whose stories are deemed worthy of preservation? How does the act of photographing, then printing and disseminating it through a journal affect the cultural understanding of the location? Consider, as you view this image, how such representations shape our perceptions of history, religion, and space.