A potent source of national pride, France’s Gothic architecture had nevertheless suffered long periods of neglect, leading to worries about its upkeep and ultimate survival.

Mounting concern for the dilapidated state of centuries-old monuments prompted the French government in 1851 to launch a comprehensive program of photographic documentation known as the Missions héliographiques.

Five official photographers accepted assignments to record historic structures in regions throughout France. The resulting images, though not published at the time, were intended to marshal support for the repair and restoration of vulnerable edifices.

Their unexpected viewpoints staged a direct encounter with the historical past, sometimes tapping into mournful emotions of nostalgia, loss, and grief. The drive to preserve old buildings in France’s provinces coincided with a frenzy of new construction in Paris, where Baron Haussmann oversaw a massive transformation of the urban fabric throughout the 1850s and 1860s.