The First Photographs of the Temples of Angkor

With the widespread use of digital cameras and the recent progress in smartphone photography, ten of thousands of pictures are taken everyday in  the temples of Angkor. We take the ability to take pictures  granted but often forget that the first photographs of the temples of  Angkor were taken more than 150 years ago!

Photographers back then  were using one of the first photographic process created called wet plate collodion. They had porters to carry their darkroom and chemicals as photographic plates needed to be developed on site. In top of that, access to  the temples of Angkor were very difficult as they were still covered by a dense jungle….

Two photographers were credited for successfully captured the first pictures of Angkor. The first one, was a  Scottish Photographer  named  John Thomson, who was 29 years old and  based in Singapore. He did an extensive photographic work during his two weeks spent  in Angkor in 1866. John Thomson was inspired to take this trip by the writings of Henri Mouhot in 1860. Beside Angkor Wat, Thomson took pictures of Angkor Thom and Bayon which were  covered by a dense jungle. It was only in 1911, that Jean Commaille lead an archeology mission from École française d’Extrême-Orient to clear up the trees in Bayon temple and started restorations.

Few months after John Thomson, Frenchman Emile Gsell, 28 years old, based in Saigon, brought  his darkroom to Angkor and captured more than 100 pictures. He returned later on in 1873 part of the famous expedition lead by Louis Delaporte. Gsell developed his glass plates on paper coated with albumen. The pictures of Thomson and Gsell are  today priceless documents as they put in perspective the massive restoration work accomplished  since the beginning of the 20th century in the temples of Angkor.

 

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THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE TEMPLES OF ANGKOR |

EMILE GSELL

 

 

 

 

 

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THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE TEMPLES OF ANGKOR | JOHN THOMSON

(Copyright Wellcome Library)