This 1798 lithograph of a temple in Thanjavur, India, looks exactly like its 2016 digital photo
Previous to the invention of the camera, people resorted to other methods to capture the beauty of a place. And these included not only written descriptions but also lithographs. The latter consists of a drawing printed on a stone using oil and water. Not as quick as pressing the shutter on your camera, right?
As you might have guessed, the lithograph is the one on top. Even though the quality isn’t that great, it’s still surprising for an 18th-century technique. By comparing the two pictures of the beautiful Brihadisvara Temple in India, you’ll see the monument hasn’t changed much, except for the cut-down palm trees.