Tents and Military Gear, Camp de Châlons,

1857

In 1857 a vast military training ground opened at Châlonssur-Marne, just over eighty-five miles east of Paris; it engulfed two small villages, and boasted its own railway station and theater. Gustave Le Gray, a renowned landscape photographer, was commissioned to document the six weeks of theatrical training exercises and ceremonies that marked the camp’s inauguration.
Each summer during the thirteen years the camp existed, an imperial quarter was designated within its grounds to accommodate visits by Napoleon III and his retinue. The military mission of Châlons was carefully balanced with its role as a site of public spectacle, where civilians could watch maneuvers of the Imperial Guard or catch a glimpse of the emperor himself. In this view, a group of promenading women is visible amid the tents in the middle distance.