Born in Sweden, Guillaume Berggren first learned his trade
in Berlin and then settled in Constantinople (now Istanbul), opening a studio there
in the early 1870s. Berggren’s international trajectory was not uncommon of
19th-century photographers. As global transport routes provided the framework
for trade and tourism, professional photographic firms appeared in places as
far-flung as Egypt, India, Asia, and the Middle East. In Constantinople,
Berggren catered to an influx of tourists, documenting notable locations such
as the Eyüp cemetery, one of the city’s largest and oldest Muslim cemeteries. In
Berggren’s image, it is possible to distinguish the occupation of the deceased from
the gravestone—for example, imams’ tombs are topped by turbans, while the grave
of a solider is ornamented with a sword.