Nadar Exhibition in the Paris Catacombs Marks Photography Bicentennial

For photography's bicentennial, the Catacombes de Paris is staging an exhibition on Nadar twenty meters underground, in the very galleries he was the first to illuminate. Titled "Exposition Nadar, inventer Paris, des profondeurs au ciel," it runs from 29 September 2026 to 31 January 2027 at 1 avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, 75014 Paris, near Denfert-Rochereau metro station (lines 4 and 6). Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 9:45 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., with last entry at 7:30 p.m. Admission is 31 euros, reduced 25 euros, 15 euros for ages 8 to 17, and free for children under 8. Nadar photographed Charles Baudelaire, Victor Hugo and Sarah Bernhardt, fixing the faces of the nineteenth century. In 1858 he ascended in a balloon and brought back the first aerial photograph in history. Three years later he lowered batteries into the quarries and became the first to light the underground. In 1874 he lent his studio on the boulevard des Capucines to the Impressionists for their first exhibition. The Catacombs thus return the favor, showing his work in the galleries he once lit — an underground photography exhibition in his own setting. The bicentennial could hardly have found a better match.