Pyramids at Giza, Cairo, Egypt by Francis Bedford
Cairo to Constantinople: Early Photographs of the Middle East, The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse,
8 March – 21 July 2013.
Royal Collection Trust / (C) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
The Queens Gallery in the Palace of Hollyrood House in Edinburgh will be hosting a cool new exhibition at the end of spring 2013, looking at some of the very first photographs of iconic locations in Egypt and Turkey. Cairo to Constantinople: Early Photographs of the Middle East will bring together stunning images showing the difference a century has made, but also the lasting legacy of the architecture that the Middle East has become famous for.
The photography for the exhibition comes from a 1862 tour that the Prince of Wales, who would later become King Edward VII, was sent on for educational purposes of the Middle East. As he was accompanied by British photographer Francis Bedford, the journey was documented on film. The tour and the photography that it produced shows the cultural and political significance that the government and monarchy of the time attached to the countries of the Middle East.
The tour took the 21 year old Prince to Egypt, Syria, Palestine, the Lebanon, Turkey and Greece travelling by horse and camping during the night. The photography from the 1862 royal tour was first displayed on the Prince’s return to Great Britain some four months later to critical acclaim and soon it will be on display once again.
For anyone whose grandad served in the Middle East during the Second World War, as many soldiers did, the imagery will be reminiscent of those you might have been shown as a child; if they were lucky enough to have gotten hold of a camera. However, the amazing images are also a romantic reminder for everyone of a time when pyramids weren’t overcrowded with tourists and walls weren’t etched with hearts and “I was here” (grandad’s is still prominant at the top of one of the pyramids in Cairo, but I guess he didn’t know any better at the time).
Opening on the 8th March 2013, the Cairo to Constantinople exhibition is scheduled to run until the 21st July 2013, leaving a four and a half month window to catch the stunning photography in detail. There are no tickets as such, but you’ll need to pay general admission (adult £6.00, over 60 & students (with valid ID) £5.50, under 17 £3.00, under 5 free and family tickets (2 adults and 3 under 17s) £15.50) to see the exhibition.
