Fred Boissonnas: The Sinai Expeditions 1929-1933

In 1933 Frédéric Boissonnas (1858-1946) embarked on a photographic expedition to Sinai, following the route of the Israelites as recorded in the book of Exodus and photographing the traditional biblical sites that he encountered on his journey. The photographer’s interest in the wanderings of the Israelites dated from an earlier trip to Egypt in 1929. Boissonnas prepared for his second journey by doing extensive research on Sinai in the Geneva public library, where he consulted books on archaeology, Biblical scholarship and literature, as well as early travel books. His project was at once quasi-scientific, cultural and very personal, the culmination of a lifetime’s study of Greek civilization and the Mediterranean.