These majestic images of an empty, ghostly Paris were taken between 1865 to 1870 by Henri-Charles Plaut, one of the few photographers who immortalised the city during the renovations by Haussmann.
Iconic monuments like La Madeleine, Notre Dame, Les Invalides, the Pantheon or the Arc de Triomphe are curiously devoid of people. This wasn’t intentional; it was simple due to a technicality of photography during the 19th century: the lack of light-sensitivity of cameras required long exposure times, sometimes for up to 10 minutes per shot. This effectively removed the people and their movements from the images; except for faint wisps of cloud-like blurs in the streets, you’d think that Paris had been emptied out especially for each photo.
Plaut also captured the environs of Paris, including the gardens and castle of Versailles and Saint Cloud, which you can see on the site of Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France