Deur van de Bibliothèque Impériale van het Palais du Louvre c. 1855 - 1857

Edouard Baldus created this photograph of the door of the Imperial Library of the Palais du Louvre using a calotype negative. Baldus, active during a period of significant transformation in France, documented the changing urban landscape under Napoleon III. This image invites us to consider the intersection of power, knowledge, and access in 19th-century France. Libraries, like the one behind this door, were centers of learning and culture, but access was often restricted by class and social standing. Baldus, as an artist commissioned by the state, played a role in visually constructing the image of a modern, imperial Paris. The door itself, with its solid construction and ornate details, speaks to the authority and prestige associated with the institution. Photography was instrumental in shaping perceptions of progress and civilization, but whose stories were being told, and who had the privilege of entering such spaces? Consider the silent barriers and unspoken rules that determined who could pass through this door, and what knowledge they were entitled to access.