# Perumal Temple Vimana from Corner of Court, Madurai

- By: Captain Linnaeus Tripe (British, 1822–1902)
- Date: 1858
- Medium: albumen print from a waxed paper negative
- Classification: Photograph
- Dimensions: Image: 34.2 x 26.8 cm (13 7/16 x 10 9/16 in.); Paper: 34.2 x 26.8 cm (13 7/16 x 10 9/16 in.)
- Culture: England, 19th century
- Credit line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/2020.209)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2020.209/2020.209_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Kids profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Although the temple would have been crowded with worshippers, Tripe shows us empty spaces. His paper negatives and primitive lens required long exposures, even in the bright sunlight of India—too long to record an individual in motion. Tripe, photographing for the colonial government, may also have used his official status to have the temple cleared of visitors so he could obtain unobstructed views of the architecture.