The images accompany Gérard de Nerval’s text that evokes the city of sultans, harems, mosques and Islam. Living as an art form (not for everyone: misery remains behind the scenes) of which the water tasters (the water of the Nile, in 1833, was considered the best) express its refinement. A time in which different communities (Turks, Greek, Armenian, Jews) lived in harmony.