In real life, you see the world in depth, called three dimensions, or 3D. But to see three dimensions in the world of pictures or movies, you have to use special glasses, with red and blue lenses. This is a way to make the pictures have volume and depth.
In the past, people used products called "stereoscopes" to view pictures in 3D. They projected two slightly different pictures, called "stereographs," side by side. When you looked through the lenses of a stereoscope, the two pictures suddenly appeared as one image in 3D!
From the 1850s into the 1900s, stereographs were a popular form of entertainment. Many stereographs showed vacation destinations, such as New York City or the pyramids of Egypt. Others pictured events in the news, such as the San Francisco earthquake. By viewing stereographs, people could sit at home and experience the world.
The stereographs below show scenes from daily life in Palestine around 1900. They are just two of many stereographs in the exhibition "Traveling the Holy Land Through the Stereoscope," on view at the Skirball Cultural Center through Aug. 15. Special viewers as well as a computer station are available for a hands-on experience of stereography. For information, call (310) 440-4500 or visit www.skirball.org.
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This Learning Link was provided by the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., in Los Angeles.
