Missions Héliographiques was a 19th-century project to photograph landmarks and monuments around France so that they could be restored. The project was established by Prosper Mérimée, France's Inspector General of Historical Monuments and author of '' Carmen'', in 1851. The intent was to supplement Monument historique, a program Mérimée started in 1837 to classify, protect and restore French landmarks. Mérimée hired Edouard Baldus, Hippolyte Bayard, Gustave Le Gray, Henri Le Secq and Auguste MestralRosenblum, p. 100. to carry out the photography, with the aim that architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc could eventually restore them. Although the daguerrotype originated in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, Mérimée preferred the calotype, which offered more detailed textures. Mestral and Le Gray photographed areas southwest from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Le Secq the north and east. Bayard, who chose to work with glass negatives instead of paper, went west to

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

and

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

. Baldus covered the south and east, including the

Palace of Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the List of French monarchs ...

. While several of the images are classic examples of early photography, the overall results did not meet requirements, often portraying the decaying buildings artistically and obscuring their need for restoration.

References

Photography in France Photographic collections Architectural history {{Photo-stub