Ella Maillart's 1930s Jjourneys through Central Asia come to life at Photo Elysée

Photo Elysée pays tribute to writer, photographer and traveler Ella Maillart (1903 1997) with an exhibition that looks back on her time in Central Asia in the 1930s. The show celebrates the unique career of one of history’s great travelers, whose body of work was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2025 in recognition of its universal significance. Featuring photographs and writings that trace Maillart’s four major journeys in the 1930s – through the USSR, China, Afghanistan and Iran – the exhibition highlights the documentary value of her work and its role in building understanding of the cultures she visited. Maillart was born in Geneva in 1903. She established herself as an important travel writer and reporter at an early age. In the 1930s, guided by a rare independence of mind, she journeyed extensively through Central Asia, taking an avid interest in the cultures and peoples she encountered along