Nadar : Inventing Paris, from the Depths to the Sky Display
To mark the bicentenary of photography, visitors will discover a lesser-known side of the celebrated photographer and portraitist Nadar: that of a prolific inventor who documented Paris from every angle, both underground and from the sky.
The Paris Catacombs present Nadar: Inventing Paris, from the Depths to the Sky, a new exhibition exploring the extraordinary vision and pioneering achievements of Félix Tournachon, known as Nadar (1820-1910), one of the most innovative figures in the history of photography. Part of the French Ministry of Culture's Bicentenary of Photography celebrations, the exhibition runs from 29 September 2026 to 31 January 2027.
Following the recent transformation of the Catacombs visitor experience, the site now offers a programme of temporary exhibitions designed to shed new light on its unique history and heritage. Staged annually, these exhibitions explore significant themes, moments and personalities linked to one of Paris's most remarkable monuments.
Pushing the limits
Between 1858 and 1868, Nadar turned Paris into a vast laboratory for experimentation. Driven by a fascination with science, technology and innovation, he pushed the limits of photography both beneath the city streets and high above them.
The exhibition brings together a selection of reproductions of photographs taken by Nadar in the Paris Catacombs in 1862, the Paris sewers in 1865 and from the skies above Paris in 1868. Together, these works reveal a city viewed from strikingly new perspectives, from its subterranean passages to its rooftops and beyond.
At the heart of the exhibition are photographs made in the Catacombs using electric light, a revolutionary process developed by Nadar himself. These images are widely recognised as the first underground photographs ever produced with artificial electric illumination and constitute the earliest known photographic record of the Catacombs.
Around twenty original Catacombs photographs entered the collections of Paris Musées in 2023 and are now preserved by the Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris. Owing to their fragility, the exhibition presents high-quality reproductions alongside archival material including patent drawings, posters, illustrations and caricatures that contextualise Nadar's achievements and public profile.
Revealing the Catacombs
Known today primarily as a celebrated portrait photographer, Nadar was also a prolific inventor and entrepreneur. In 1861 he patented a photographic process using electric light. The following year, Ernest Lamé-Fleury, Inspector of Quarries and administrator of the Catacombs, invited him to test the technology underground.
Working some twenty metres beneath the streets of Paris, Nadar spent several months overcoming unprecedented technical challenges to create photographic images in complete darkness. The resulting photographs document a pivotal moment in the history of the Catacombs, when photographic evidence replaced the largely imagined representations previously disseminated through engravings and illustrations.
These images reveal the Catacombs with a clarity never before achieved, while also exposing the elaborate equipment required to produce them, from cables and lamps to chemical apparatus and cumbersome cameras.
In 1865, Nadar adapted the same process to photograph the Paris sewers, offering a rare glimpse into the hidden infrastructure of the rapidly modernising capital.
Conquering the air
At the same time, Nadar was pursuing another ambition: aerial photography.
After filing a patent application for "aerostatic photography" in 1858 and conducting years of experiments, he succeeded in creating what are believed to be the earliest surviving aerial photographs of Paris in 1868. In doing so, he became the first person to photograph the city from the sky, opening up entirely new possibilities for photography and urban representation.
A gifted self-promoter as well as an inventor, Nadar understood the power of the media. His enormous balloon, Le Géant, standing forty-five metres tall, became one of the great spectacles of the Second Empire. Its successes and failures alike generated widespread public fascination and extensive press coverage, helping to cement Nadar's reputation as one of the leading innovators of his age.
Bringing together photographs, archival documents and contemporary visual culture, Nadar: Inventing Paris, from the Depths to the Sky offers visitors a unique opportunity to explore nineteenth-century Paris at a time of profound urban change.
Through Nadar's lens, visitors encounter a city being reinvented, from the underground galleries reshaped by Haussmann's transformations to the aerial perspectives that anticipated the modern metropolis.
The exhibition has been awarded the Bicentenary of Photography label by the French Ministry of Culture.
Curator
CuratorPatricia Creveaux, Director of Collections and Research, Paris Musées
Chief Curator, Paris Catacombs
Rates
The exhibition is presented in the entrance pavilion and is included with admission to the Catacombs. It forms an integral part of the visitor experience.
Advance online booking with a timed ticket is required. Tickets are released seven days before the visit date.
Full price : 31€ (audio guide included)
Reduced rate (students and visitors aged 18-26) : 25 € (audio guide included)
Children aged 8-17 : 15 € (audio guide included)
Free for children under 8
Free admission tickets are issued on site only, on the day of the visit, and cannot be reserved in advance. More details on the Individual Rates page.