A Visual History of Three Lucknows

In part, this essay suggests one aspect of the new ‘visual turn’ in history, treating as evidence the production and reception of visual-culture artefacts. In part, it is concerned with the way that the objects and practices linked to visual culture established a sense of place for urban locales, and how that changed over time. Visual entry points for that sense of place are many: the built environments (and how their use and imputed meanings altered); the two-dimensional representations (such as photographs and posters) of these monuments and significant buildings that called out the storied meanings associated with them; the photographic documentations of everyday life; and the organisations and activities/events staged around and through built environments in each place.