Rare Jeddah photos on show in French exhibition

The French Consulate in Jeddah organized on Sunday in their premises a photo exhibition themed around old Jeddah between 1895 to 1918.
The show titled ‘Jeddah through the eyes of early French photographers (1895 -1918)’ is a unique collection of antique pictures of old Jeddah, which were never seen before.
It comprises a collection of photographs of the city shot by Albert Édouard Bobot Descoutures, the French Consul in Jeddah in 1895. The collection includes the first known photographs of the Jeddah Port. Pictures by Paul Castelnau and Charles Winckelsen, two French photographers in 1918, on a mission for the French Army during World War I, are also part of the show.
To draw a connect between the past and the present, several recent photos of 'Al-Balad' from Dr. Talal Bakr’s private collection are exhibited alongside.
The exhibition unveils a striking view of Jeddah in the beginning of the 20th century.
“Jeddah had undergone continuous urban development; these pictures of amazing quality throw us one hundred years back. They immerse us in the space and aura of a city whose unique harbor has now disappeared and whose last vestiges are a few remaining old houses,” said Dr. Bakr.
French Consul General Dr. Louis Blin welcomed the guests and introduced the photographers and other guests.
He said that the French Military Mission in Hijaz during 1917-1918 representing French interests and helping operations led against the Ottoman Army hosted many photographers and cinematographers.
Pictures of various quarters of the city by Castelnau and Winckelsen brought back many aspects of life in the past.
From 1895 to 1918, Jeddah’s photographic history had gone through important developments. The First World War led to a rapidly growing number of photographs.
The city and its inhabitants were then photographed from nearly every angle. Technical advances helped this development since 1895. Gelatin silver process facilitated work. Glass plates used by the then French consul Descoutures could now reproduce colors, thanks to the auto chrome Lumière process, invented by Louis and Auguste Lumière in 1903.
The exhibition bears witness to Jeddah’s importance as the gateway of Makkah, to its rich architectural heritage, fine woodwork, and to its continuous development from the end of the 19th century until 1918.