Sanfter Tourismus. Die frühe Fotografie im Dienst des Siebenbürgischen Karpatenvereins und ihr Verbleib
Sustainable Tourism. The early photographic art in the service of the Transylvanian Carpathian Association (SKV) and its fate

Summary/Abstract: The present study traces the history and general contents of the graphic archive of the former Transylvanian Carpathian Association (SKV). Founded in 1880 in Hermannstadt/Sibiu, the Association, using the then relatively new medium of photography, ordered landscape images to be taken by photgraphs and provided a camera for the use of its members. Hence, it promoted a sustainable form of tourism in the Carpathians – a tourism imbued with a deep respect for nature’s creation. Objects from this collection were permanently improved through image enhancement made possible by many national and foreign partner institutions. These objects are to be found today in the Collection for Documentary Imagery of the National Brukenthal Museum and the Museum of Natural History in Hermannstadt/Sibiu. The photographs found their way into these collections after the transfer of the Association’s collections to the Brukenthal Museum, beginning with the 1920‘s. We are advocating for a reevaluation and rehabilitation of the objects from this collection, using an approach depicted from the field of art history. We are further advocating for recognizing the legitimacy in considering a part of this collection as a piece of Transylvanian art history.

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