The Secure Architecture of Immortality

The visual record created by von Busse during this period is characterized by a striking duality. On one hand, he produced meticulously staged images of the site’s ruins, photographs designed to convey the scale, architecture, and intricate detail of the surviving structures. These images, often utilizing deep perspectives and careful lighting, were essential academic tools. They served to document the condition of the friezes, the sheer size of the columns, and the progress of the clearing work, becoming the primary visual evidence for Herzfeld's scholarly reports and publications back in Chicago.