Cimetière Turc

Born in Sweden, Guillaume Berggren first learned his trade in Berlin and then settled in Constantinople (now Istanbul), opening a studio there in the early 1870s. Berggren’s international trajectory was not uncommon of 19th-century photographers. As global transport routes provided the framework for trade and tourism, professional photographic firms appeared in places as far-flung as Egypt, India, Asia, and the Middle East. In Constantinople, Berggren catered to an influx of tourists, documenting notable locations such as the Eyüp cemetery, one of the city’s largest and oldest Muslim cemeteries. In Berggren’s image, it is possible to distinguish the occupation of the deceased from the gravestone—for example, imams’ tombs are topped by turbans, while the grave of a solider is ornamented with a sword.