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British and French colonialism facilitated Western exploration of North Africa and the Middle East in the nineteenth century. Some European tourists were drawn to lands such as Egypt and Palestine because of their Biblical heritage. Others were intrigued by the contemporary cultures of the Middle East. Still others hoped to see newly discovered archaeological sites, such as Petra in Jordan and Palmyra in Syria. Although the presumed supremacy of European culture was taken for granted, archaeology had revealed that the histories of Europe and the Middle East were deeply intertwined.
Artists were among the earliest European tourists in the Middle East. The illustrated Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt by Dominique Vivant Denon, published in 1802, ignited a fad for the "Egyptian" style in Napoleon's France, while prints and photographs by David Roberts and Francis Frith provided other peoples' first encounter with Egyptian monuments.
In the nineteenth century, Orientalism became one of the most ubiquitous genres of European painting. French and British artists specialized in the portrayal–real or imagined–of bazaars, mosques, and harems. Some images focused on the "decadence" of contemporary Middle Eastern society, producing a moralistic commentary on what was seen as cultural decline. Nevertheless, Western artists felt powerfully attracted to the landscapes, architecture, and lifestyles of the Muslim Mediterranean.