IN THE HEART OF THE SOUTH TYROLEAN MOUNTAINS AND DOLOMITESIN THE HEART OF THE SOUTH TYROLEAN MOUNTAINS AND DOLOMITES
IN THE HEART OF THE SOUTH TYROLEAN MOUNTAINS AND DOLOMITES
1841
From the Faulhorn mountain, the Swiss daguerreotypist Franziska Möllinger (1817–1880) took what is probably one of the first daguerreotypes of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau while traveling through Switzerland. She published this unique photographic positive as the first photographic Alpine panorama.
Franziska Möllinger (1817–1880) Panorama du Faulhorn dans Oberland bernois, 1844 Lithograph after a daguerreotype
Solothurn: printed by J. Gassmann, Sohn Photo: © Zentralbibliothek Solothurn
1849
The oldest known, still existing photographs of mountains were taken by Gustave Dardel (1824–1899) as daguerreotypes in the Bernese Alps.
Gustave Dardel, (1824–1899) France, Paysage montagnard des Alpes suisses, c. 1849
Photo: Dardel, Gustave /© Musée suisse de l'appareil photographique, Vevey
1861
The French officer Aimé Civiale (1821–1893) wanted to exploit photography for scientific purposes. His attempt to take a panorama of Mont Blanc from the top of Mont Buet was unsuccessful due to the inhospitable terrain and long exposure times.
Aimé Civiale (1821–1893) Les Aiguilles Rouges, le révent et le Mont Blanc. Pris du Buet, 1862
Photo: Civiale, Aimé /© RMN-Grand Palais (Institut de France) / Gérard Blot
1862
The Bisson brothers, Louis-Auguste (1814–1876) and Auguste-Rosalie (1826–1900), were the first to photographically document the ascent of Mont Blanc.
Auguste-Rosalie Bisson/Louis-Auguste Bisson, The Ascent of Mont Blanc (through a crevasse) France, 1862
Photo: Bisson, Frères/ Bisson, Auguste-Rosalie and Bisson, Louis-Auguste/© BnF, Paris/EO-14(4)-FOL
1863
The ascent of the Grossglockner was first documented in August 1863 by the photographer Gustav Jägermayer (1834–1901). He set up his camera 300 meters below the summit and captured the ascent from this angle.
Gustav Jägermayer, Peak of the Grossglockner from the southeast during the ascent ( August 4, 1863 )
Photo: Jägermayer, Gustav / © ÖNB/Vienna, WK1/ALB104/31762
1863
By documenting the ascent of Monte Viso, the Turin-born photographer Alberto Luigi Vialardi (1833–1912) captured one of the earliest high-mountain ascents in the Italian Alps.
Alberto Luigi Vialardi, Monviso (sud-ovest verso Francia), veduta presa dal Colle del Vallanta, July 1863
Photo: Vialardi, Alberto Luigi / © su concessione del MIBACT – Musei Reali - Biblioteca Reale, Turin
1898
In October 1898, the Swiss balloon pilot Eduart Spelterini (1852–1931) first crossed the Alps, flying from Valais, Switzerland, to Beçancon, France, in his balloon Wega. For the first time, he and his passengers saw the Alps from above and used a camera to record their impressions.
Eduard Spelterini in the basket of his balloon Wega prior to takeoff, 1/3/1898
Photo: Eduard Spelterini / © Verkehrshaus der Schweiz, Lucerne
1908
Between 1908 and 1941, Zeppelins were used for round-trip excursions over the Alps, and the smooth ride provided truly stunning views. This trip across Central Switzerland was photographically documented on one of the last flights in the summer of 1941.
Zeppelin flight over the Swiss Alps with a view of the Grosser and Kleiner Mythen in the canton of Schwyz, 4/29/1941
Photo: unknown/ © Verkehrshaus der Schweiz, Lucerne
1913
In the summer of 1913, Oskar Bieder became the first person to cross the Alpine divide. The view of the mountains from the window of his airplane was completely new. The vertical perspective cast the Alps into a sharp relief, especially when lit from the side.
Aerial photograph of the Dolomites during WWI, c. 1916
Photo: Karl Dornach; Manfred Haun collection – TAP
1931
On his balloon voyage into the stratosphere, the Swiss physics professor Auguste Piccard (1884–1962) became the first person to photograph the Alps from an altitude of 15,785 meters. He combined several photographs to create this view of the Alps in Eastern Switzerland.
Auguste Piccard From the balloon, 15 km high, 1932
Photo: Piccard, Prof. Auguste / © Verkehrshaus der Schweiz, Lucerne
1953
In 1953, Edmund Hillary (1919–2008) climbed to the highest point on Earth together with the Tibetan Tenzing Norgay (1914–1986). The famous summit photo only shows Norgay. Hillary took the picture.
Tenzing Norgay on the summit of Mount Everest, 5/29/1953
Photo: Edmund Hillary/ © Royal Geographical Society /Getty Images
1959
The first satellite images of Earth were taken in August 1959. The shots were still blurry. Today, weather forecasting routinely uses satellite images as a source of data. These orbital photographs reveal information about the topographic and tectonic structure of the Alps.
Satellite images taken by the Landsat satellite from an altitude of approx. 700 km, 1996-98
Photo: unknown/ © Durst Phototechnik AG, Bressanone
Technological advances and photography allowed people to “see” what had until then been unimaginable.
The first photographs and the documentation of the view “from above” introduced a new way of viewing the mountains. Until then, people had only looked at mountains from below and judged them to be “holy, untouchable”, or “for the most part economically useless”. The photographs “from above” suddenly let them see things from a different angle. The rapid development of photography and photographic technology generated new and constantly evolving ways of looking at the mountains, and these, in turn, created new information, new possibilities of applicability, and new possibilities of use. And people discovered how the mountain could be “utilized”, could become useable, exploitable, useful.
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