Title: [Désiré Charnay photographs of Mayan ruins in Mexico]
Authors: Charnay, Désiré, 1828-1915
Year: 1858
Subjects: Extinct cities Mexico; Mayas Antiquities; Mexico Antiquities.; Mitla Site (Mexico); Palenque Site (Mexico); Izamal Site (Mexico); Chichén Itzá Site (Mexico); Uxmal Site (Mexico)
Abstract: Photographs of pre-Columbian ruins taken by French traveler and archaeologist Désiré Charnay on his first expedition to Mexico. Commissioned by the French Ministry of Public Instruction, he travelled throughout Oaxaca, Chiapas, and the Yucatán Peninsula from 1857-1861, exploring Mayan ruins and pioneering the use of photography to document these archaeological sites. Sites depicted include Mitla, Palenqué, Izamal, Chichen-Itza, and Uxmal. Most of the photographs were published in Viollet-le-Duc's Cités et ruines américaines, the official French government report of Charney's expedition.