Panoramic Photograph of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives – Christian Paier – Cairo, ca. 1860

"Ansichten von Jerusalem von Öhl-Berge auf. " Panoramic photograph of Jerusalem, by the Slovenian photographer Christian Paier. Cairo, [ca. 1860s].

Wide-angle panoramic photograph, mounted onto a cardboard plate folded into four quarters. On the plate, in German, is a detailed legend identifying prominent sites throughout the city, which have been assigned corresponding numbers (handwritten) on the photo itself.

This photograph was taken by Christian Paier (also spelled Kristjan Pajer; 1839-1895), Slovenian photographer, a photojourneying pioneer and one of Jerusalem’s earliest photographers; visited the Holy Land in the years 1860-64. Upon his return to Europe, he presented Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph with a full album of photos of the Holy Land; at the time, this represented a most unique gift. In recognition, the emperor rewarded him with a diamond-studded gold ring. Apparently only a few dozen of Paier’s works have survived, to be found in various museums and archival collections.

See: Blaž Otrin, "Življenjepis popotnega fotografa Christiana Paierja, " 2017 (Slovenian, with abstract in English), available for reading on the the website Academia.edu.

85.5X18.5 cm. Plate: 101X30.5 cm. Good condition. Stains, mostly to cardboard plate. Minor abrasions to photograph.