Palace of the Nuns at Uxmal (detail from the façade of the snake)

Claude-Joseph-Désiré Charnay was a French photographer and archaeologist active in the nineteenth century. Working primarily in Mexico and Central America, he documented pre-Columbian ruins and landscapes using early photographic processes, combining scientific documentation with picturesque composition. His photographs served both archaeological record and artistic purpose, establishing a methodology for visual field research that influenced later generations of explorer-photographers. This profile will be expanded as more verified source material becomes available.