Immer weider Rhein!

English Tourists' Photographs

Click here for a slideshow of a selection of images

An exhibition of the above title is being held in the Landesmuseum Koblenz from 17th May - 12th July, 2009. The Landesmuseum Koblenz owns a collection of travel photographs taken by English photographers of the 19th century who were touring in the area of the River Rhine. The collection will be exhibited alongside photographs taken by contemporary English tourists. Because Norwich is twinned with Koblenz and especially because there is such a close association between Foto-Club Koblenz and the Norwich & District Photographic Society (NDPS), the NDPS were invited to submit the modern day photographs of the region for this exhibition. Out of the large number which we submitted, 29 photographs, the work of nine members of NDPS, were selected by the Museum for display.

Five of us attended the opening of the exhibition, which took place at 6.30pm on Saturday 16th May 2009 at the Landesmuseum Koblenz. The museum is located in the Festung Ehrenbreitstein, an impressive old fortress, across the river Rhine from the main city of Koblenz, and dominating the surrounding area.

The idea of the exhibition is to compare photographs of today with those of the 19th century. Although we are in no way able to present the exhibition in the manner in which it will be arranged in Koblenz, nevertheless, a few of the photographs are shown here and they give an idea of what is being displayed in Koblenz. Our grateful thanks go to the Landesmuseum Koblenz for allowing us to show here some of their 19th century photographs - they are dated 1867. We have chosen four of these, including one which is in the form of a stereoscopic pair, very popular in Victorian times, but not so nowadays for some reason. Following these are nine NDPS photographs; one from each of our members.

The NDPS are very conscious of the fact that this exhibition has been organised and presented by the Landesmuseum Koblenz, whereas we have only supplied digital files - the prints were made and prepared for display, by the museum members. So hardly any work has been asked for from us and we are therefore extremely grateful to the Landesmuseum Koblenz for all their efforts and wish them every success.

Jim Massy