Western Gateway (Gopuram) of the Minakshi Sundareshvara Temple, Madurai (1858): Art, History and Details

Western Gateway (Gopuram) of the Minakshi Sundareshvara Temple, Madurai (1858) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Captain Linnaeus Tripe (British, 1822–1902).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This photograph features part of the same temple complex seen in the panoramic collage by Masumi Hayashi CMA 2015.95. Initially established during the 1100s, it was expanded on multiple occasions over the next 500 years. The addition of a series of enclosure walls included gateways topped by towering superstructures ornamented with miniature temples and images of deities. The monochrome monumentality of Tripe’s early photographic image, purposefully devoid of human activity, gives the impression of a timeless wonder. He would have had to clear the scene of worshipers and onlookers to achieve the pristine effect.

Object facts

• Title: Western Gateway (Gopuram) of the Minakshi Sundareshvara Temple, Madurai
• Date: 1858
• Creator attribution: Captain Linnaeus Tripe (British, 1822–1902)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumenized salt print
• Dimensions: Image: 38 x 30.2 cm (14 15/16 x 11 7/8 in.); Image with black margin: 39.5 x 31.2 cm (15 9/16 x 12 5/16 in.); Paper: 39.5 x 31.2 cm (15 9/16 x 12 5/16 in.)
• Collection: PH - British 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2020.208

A detail from the museum

An important pilgrimage site for centuries, this temple continues to draw tens of thousands of worshippers per day.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Dewan, Janet, and Linnaeus Tripe. The Photographs of Linnaeus Tripe: A Catalogue Raisonné. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2003.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.