James Hyman Gallery presents two interrelated exhibitions that explore the theme of ruins and ancient civilisations.

The Stones of Pompeii is an exhibition of rare early photographs of Pompeii, taken by Giorgio Sommer.

Giorgio Sommer was one of the most active photographers in mid-19th century Italy and was the most famous documenter of the ruins of Pompeii. Sommer's small-scale prints, stereo views, and cartes de visite were widely available and did much to popularise Pompeii. The large format images that are the subject of this exhibition, however, are extremely rare and are held by very few museums.

The prints in the exhibition have been kept in storage for over a century, and are being exhibited for the first time at James Hyman Gallery.

Travellers in Antique Lands is an exhibition of some of the earliest photographs of ancient civilisations that span from the Mediterranean to the Holy Land.

The exhibition takes its title from a phrase in Percy Bysshe Shelley's famous sonnet Ozymandias (1818), which presents ancient ruins as a metaphor for the fall of dictatorships and the transience of power. It will include photographs of crumbling monuments, desert scenes, ancient sculptures and excavations across the Middle East.

Included are many of the most famous pioneers of early photography: James Anderson, Giacomo Caneva, Maxime du Camp, J. B. Greene, Eugene Le Dien & Gustave Le Gray, Giorgio Sommer, Emile Pecarrere, Felix Teynard and Louis Vignes.