More pre-ISIS photo of Palmyra

PALMYRA WATCH: Getty acquires first photos ever taken of ancient ruins ISIS recently destroyed (Mike Boehm, L.A. Times).

“The ongoing Syrian civil war now threatens to obliterate Palmyra utterly. These photographs represent rare primary documents of a region and world heritage site in crisis, preserving the memory of its ancient monuments… for posterity,” said Frances Terpak, curator of photography at the Getty Research Institute.

They were taken in 1864 by Louis Vignes, a French naval officer, during an expedition to Syria and Lebanon sponsored by Albert, duc de Luynes, a French aristocrat who was an art collector and archaeologist.

Background on Palmyra, its history, the Aramaic dialect spoken there, and, not least, its sad recent fate under ISIS occupation is here and many links. Some other pre-occupation photos are noted here and here.