Stadhuis van Antwerpen 1866 - 1870

Jules Hippolyte Quéval captured this photograph of the Stadhuis van Antwerpen, or Antwerp City Hall, using the stereo card format, a popular medium for distributing images. The photograph offered viewers an immersive, almost tangible experience of the city's architecture. Quéval's work exists in a context of 19th-century European expansion. Photography was often used to promote colonial power through picturesque views of foreign landscapes, and historical landmarks like this City Hall served as symbols of cultural identity and civic pride. The image is a carefully constructed scene, with an eye to how this symbol of power should be presented to the world. It is also interesting to think about who could access this technology at this time, and therefore, who was the intended audience of this work? Consider the photograph as both a celebration of Antwerp's heritage and an assertion of cultural and political authority. It evokes a sense of nostalgia and continuity with the past, while also shaping contemporary perceptions of national identity.