The story
The title of this photograph in the Library of Congress record is “Bird’s-eye view of uncrowded Kaaba”. It belongs to the Matson Collection and is dated, by estimate, to about 1910.
The same collection holds another photograph from a high angle with the courtyard crowded with pilgrims; you will find it in the archive.
Look again: Notice the open spaces around the Kaaba when the courtyard is empty, then compare them with the photograph of pilgrims from the same collection.
What do we know? What don’t we know?
What we know:
- The glass negative is held by the Library of Congress in the Matson Collection, and the record dates it to about 1910.
- The record’s rights statement reads: “No known restrictions on publication.”
What we do not know, or cannot be sure of:
- Who took the original photograph: the catalogue describes the negative as a “copy neg.”, so it may be copied from an older photograph.
- The exact date: “ca. 1910” is the archive’s estimate.
- “No known restrictions” is not an explicit licence, so the item awaits a rights review before wider public use.