

One of the most fundamental technological breakthroughs of the era was the invention of photography. At the beginning of the 19th century there were several recorded attempts to capture images, mainly using a camera obscura, but the invention of photography is attributed to Louis Daguerre in 1839. Throughout the second half of the 19th century, photographs were most often created on glass plates. It was only the development of film in the early 20th century that enabled amateurs to enjoy photography. Around the turn of the 20th century several photographers were active in Pardubice, but the best-known of them was Josef Pírka, whose surname is also given as Pírko (1861–1942).